Sport that shapes

What the program says

Sport is one of the most powerful tools there is for shaping a young person, and one of the most wasted by the public authorities. It teaches discipline, resilience, teamwork and merit, gets children off the street and off their phones, gives health to body and mind and, for some, opens the door to a profession. We treat sport as what it is: an instrument of individual freedom, discipline, overcoming and real opportunity, focused on character building and the mental health of young people. And, to reach more people, we will break with the dependence on centralized public money, expanding partnerships with the private sector, the states and the municipalities. We will create the “Programa Escola de Campeões” (“School of Champions Program”), with public-private partnerships to bring competitive sport to schools, far beyond physical education class: school teams, training outside class hours and municipal and state competitions. The program is also a weapon against school dropout and grade repetition: the student who trains, who plays for the school team and who dreams of the next competition is the student who keeps studying. The court pulls the classroom along. We will promote the inclusion of people with disabilities through sport, with the detection of Paralympic talent from the grassroots level and more autonomy for Paralympic bodies, treating para-sport as a path to rehabilitation, entry into the workforce and overcoming. In high-performance sport, we will improve sports grants and, above all, bring the private sector into sponsorship, in partnership with clubs, colleges and universities. We will encourage the use of technology and data science through calls for proposals for confederations and clubs, and strengthen preparation for the Olympic and Paralympic Games with a focus on efficiency and partnership with the private sector. Women’s sport was created precisely to give women a fair space for competition. We will protect it. In recent years, international confederations have revised their rules upon recognizing that athletes who were not born female retain, even after hormone treatment, advantages in wingspan, bone density and musculature that women have no way of matching. Allowing this inequality is to punish precisely the athlete who trains her whole life, gives up family and dedicates herself to high-performance sport. We will ensure that the women’s category, from the grassroots level to high performance, is contested by athletes of the female sex, protecting women and the integrity of competition from ideological agendas. [p. 40, 41]

In plain language

• The program treats sport as an instrument for shaping young people and proposes reducing the dependence on centralized public money, expanding partnerships with the private sector, the states and the municipalities.
• It creates the Programa Escola de Campeões, with public-private partnerships, to bring competitive sport to schools: school teams, training outside class hours and municipal and state competitions. The text also presents the program as a way to combat school dropout and grade repetition.
• It provides for including people with disabilities through sport, with the detection of Paralympic talent from the grassroots level and more autonomy for Paralympic bodies, treating para-sport as a path to rehabilitation, entry into the workforce and overcoming.
• In high-performance sport, it proposes improving sports grants, attracting private sponsorship in partnership with clubs, colleges and universities, opening technology and data science calls for proposals for confederations and clubs and strengthening preparation for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
• The text cites the revision of rules by international confederations, states that athletes who were not born female retain physical advantages even after hormone treatment and proposes that the women’s category, from the grassroots level to high performance, be contested only by athletes of the female sex.

What is not in the program

• It does not state the cost or funding source, nor targets for raising funds from the private sector.
• It does not detail how the partnerships of the Programa Escola de Campeões would work or how many schools would be served.
• It does not define what would change in sports grants or what the greater autonomy of Paralympic bodies would consist of.
• It does not name the legal instrument or say how the rule for the women’s category would be applied and enforced.
• It gives no timelines.