Broken Strong

For the "Kapot Sterk" project, we held 17 workshops at 9 different schools over the course of three weeks. Over 20 more workshops will follow in May at 12 different schools.

Last year, I signed up to be part of this powerful project, initiated and designed by the municipality of Lansingerland and co-funded by the RIEC (Regional Information and Expertise Center). This Regional Information and Expertise Center focuses on combating undermining crime. For the "Kapot Sterk" project, four workshops are being created for each school, tailored to the issues facing that neighborhood, school, and even classroom. In these workshops, young people receive information on various relevant topics, such as resisting temptation, developing resilience, and the power of making their own choices. This project makes children more resilient to the temptations of undermining (drug) crime. Kapot Sterk aims to show and teach children in grades 7 and 8—as they prepare for secondary school—that there are more paths to success than just criminal activity and quick money.

To immediately capture the children's attention, my workshop begins with a dynamic freestyle basketball show as an introduction and the potential of a sport in people's lives. This immediately shows the children the possibilities of basketball and motivates and inspires them to participate. At the start, I always select a few children who are susceptible to temptation and keep them close throughout the lesson, giving them extra attention while also allowing them to make some difficult choices. The workshop lasts two hours. Through various exercises, the children learn how to hold their own and become aware of the threat a group can have on an individual. We conclude the workshop with statements submitted by the students themselves, the teachers, the municipality of Lansingerland, and myself. The goal of this exercise is to teach children to be open to other perspectives and opinions and to listen to the arguments of others without trying to convince each other. Finally, they learn that it's okay to adjust their own opinion based on good arguments from others, because this is different from "contradiction." Peer pressure can also be positive and not just negative.

To illustrate how powerful this project is, I want to take you through two short success stories.

1) The first story concerns an 11-year-old boy. At the outset, both the parents and the school expressed a sense of loss of control over the boy, as he had already fallen into what appeared to be a nascent criminal circle. After the workshop, I received heartwarming news from the school that the workshop had had a tremendously positive effect on the boy's behavior. They wanted to maintain this positive change by offering him a one-on-one program with Showcase Basketball.

2) The second story is about a boy in the eighth grade who fell into the wrong group of friends at the beginning of the year. He pushes the boundaries and increasingly exhibits inappropriate behavior. Thanks to the Kapot Sterk workshop, this boy has made different choices and formed new, positive friendships.

The impact of this project is therefore enormous. This is just the beginning of many more municipalities we will be supporting with this project, so that as many children as possible can confidently transition to secondary school.