25 June 2007
Extreme Sports Offer Salvadoran Youth Refuge from Violence
United States provides extreme sports facilities to Salvadoran youth center
Soyapango, El Salvador -- Soyapango is one of the most densely populated communities in El Salvador. It is also one of the most violent. Rival gangs have carved up this San Salvador suburb into home turfs where they rule through extortion, armed robbery and homicide.
But with the help of a grant from the U.S. government, a local recreational facility is working to draw young people away from that violence. And it looks as if many of Soyapango's youth welcome that call for change. In February, hundreds of young people marched through the streets of Soyapango in a rally against violence, carrying signs proclaiming, “No to violence and yes to harmony.”
This popular rejection of violence is what the founders of Fundacion Salvador del Mundo (FUSALMO) hoped to see when they created a recreational facility for the youth of Soyapango in 2003. With a 5,000-seat stadium, a 2,200-seat gymnasium, football fields, basketball courts, tennis courts, computer labs and numerous other recreational and educational facilities, FUSALMO serves as a peaceful refuge in this troubled community.
During a June 23 interview with USINFO, the foundation's sports director, Nelson Rodriguez, pointed to opposite sides of the complex and explained that the facility is located directly between the territories of two rival gangs. He says it is impossible to know how many of the hundreds of youth that use the facility every day are gang members, but there is a code of conduct within FUSALMO imposed by the youth themselves. This is a safe zone: no graffiti, no drugs, no fighting. The only rivalry here is sporting competition on the playing field.
In 2006, with a grant from the U.S. government, FUSALMO expanded its facilities to include extreme sports: bicycle motocross (BMX), skateboarding and break dancing. Rodriguez says this is an important development because there are no other extreme sports facilities in El Salvador. Consequently, FUSALMO now is drawing youth from all over the country who want to practice these sports.
Jose Manuel Vega is one of about 80 young BMXers who bring their bikes to FUSALMO every week to work out on the ramps. He told USINFO that before FUSALMO installed the ramps, they had to practice on embankments in the street. “For me, this is better,” he said, “because it's safe here. This place is exclusively for us. It's not like in the streets. There are no thieves, no delinquents. Everybody respects everyone else.”
He said the facility is giving BMX a higher profile in El Salvador. More youth are discovering a sport that was ignored when there was nowhere to practice, and their skills are improving rapidly. “We needed this,” he said.
Alex, a student of systems engineering at the local university, has been skateboarding for nine years, When FUSALMO installed skateboard ramps and bars, it quickly became his destination of choice. He is now one of more than 100 skateboarders who come to the park regularly. “This is where we enjoy skating the most because we can be creative,” he said. The skateboarders enjoy an entire corner of the park to themselves: no cars, no pedestrians, no footballs to dodge.
He also appreciates the secure environment. “There are no problems here, nobody to bother you, nobody selling drugs,” he said.
Rodriguez says skateboarding is better organized on the national level than BMX. The skateboarders make videos of their activities and send them out nationwide via e-mail. This word-of-mouth advertising about the facilities available at FUSALMO has attracted skateboarders from around the country and even a few from abroad.
Break dancing has yet to earn a high profile among the youth of El Salvador, but Rodriguez says there are about 15 young people who come to FUSALMO every week to make use of the new break-dancing floor and the sound system.
Rodriguez says the new extreme sports facilities have allowed young people like Jose Manuel and Alex to develop useful leadership skills. FUSALMO offers training in the more common sports – track and field, football, Tae Kwon Do and aerobic gymnastics – but young people who want to participate in extreme sports are on their own. FUSALMO has no teachers for those activities. As sports director, Rodriguez relies on young people like Jose Manuel and Alex to take charge of their groups, organize their activities, train newcomers and keep an eye on the younger participants. These are important life skills, he says.
But the center’s broad appeal, he said, lies in the young people’s excitement that someone finally is paying attention to extreme sports in a country that long has known little more than football.
