Basketball offers escape from deprivation in Montreal

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jan/07/montreal-basketball-social-deprivation-sport

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The headline of the magazine posted at the entrance to Jeanne-Mance secondary school in Montreal reads "Dream on". Sure enough, students at this school taking part in the "Bien dans Mes Baskets" [happy in my trainers] scheme have no shortage of dreams. With more than half the 970 pupils coming from underprivileged backgrounds, the scheme helps about 100 teenagers a year, who are often struggling with learning or behavioural problems. It offers a way out of the downward spiral, opening the door to new sporting or academic ambitions.

Martin Dusseault, a school social worker, started the ball rolling. "Before 2001 we had great difficulty getting through to challenged adolescents in the neighbourhood ... mainly of Haitian or African origin," he recalls. "The school would shut at 3pm and the kids would hang around in the yard. Some played basketball, which has links with hip-hop culture. One day I went out with my ball to join in." His move had a positive impact on relations with pupils at the school and he soon started acting as their trainer. Players began to confide in him, talking about their problems in one-to-one chats in his office. "They saw me as someone they could trust, no longer as a social worker," he explains. "I understood that basketball was a way of establishing meaningful links with struggling teenagers and turning school into a place where they could flourish."

The Bien dans Mes Baskets programme gradually developed at the school, outside classes. "We managed to get the gym to open at lunch, weekends and even during school holidays," Dusseault explains. He now leads a small team of social workers and volunteers (including former pupils) tasked with supervision and training.

Ball games are "a tool for social intervention" among the Dragons, as the eight basketball teams – six men's and two women's – are collectively known. The aim is to acquire social skills through a project centred on young people's own interests, while encouraging certain forms of social interaction and boosting academic motivation. Among other things, the Dragons have repainted the gym and helped set up rooms for parent-teacher meetings.

Andrée Marquis, the school head, sees a real difference in the young people. "They are much more committed, have a huge sense of belonging to their school and environment, with solid ethical and partnership values," she says. The Bien dans Mes Baskets programme has been extended to include even the youngest pupils, with nine mini-Dragon programmes for middle schools in the neighbourhood. Their goal is to ease the passage from middle to secondary school through basketball, using older pupils as volunteer trainers.

Two years ago, Bien dans Mes Baskets linked up with the Centre for Family, a nonprofit organisation in Brooklyn, New York, which organises youth activities, including basketball. In partnership with the International Association for Social Work with Groups, the two bodies staged a women's basketball event. A team from Jeanne-Mance travelled to New York City for the occasion in February. "Some of them came back completely transformed, with much greater self-esteem," Dusseault says.

Alonie Le Gresley, 17, took part. "It didn't matter whether we won or lost the matches. What mattered was meeting up with other girls like ourselves. There was conflict in the team at the time, but being in New York put an end to all that," she says. The winner of last year's Athlete of the Year award at her school, Le Gresley is indeed transformed. She was expelled from several schools previously, but is now beaming: "I like school. I've found motivation in sport and everything I do with my friends from Bien dans Mes Baskets."

Dusseault is also proud of what Eloho Omalosanga, 26, has achieved. When he landed in Canada from the Democratic Republic of the Congo aged nine, he spoke neither French nor English, as well as struggling with learning disabilities. A football player, he "forgot [his] feet and started playing with [his] hands" in what he now sees as his "second family". In 2012 he won the Quebec province Volunteer of the Year award for his work as a trainer.

Mambi Diawara, 19, is still very attached to his old school. Born in Canada, of Malian parents, his education has seen "ups and downs". Thanks to Bien dans Mes Baskets he found an outlet in sport. But he emphasises the valuable help he received from the social workers, improving his performance in class. In 2011 he won a prize for perseverance at school and in sport, followed by the Quebec Student Sport Federation's Recruit of the Year award. "I still dream of professional basketball," he admits and has just been contacted by an American university team.

This article appeared in Guardian Weekly, which incorporates material from Le Monde

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