A Prayerful Beginning and a Renewed Vision

The Rector Major, Fr Fabio Attard, led the opening prayer, encouraging those present to continue animating the Association while renewing the awareness that sport is one of the privileged paths of the Salesian charism for reaching young people and accompanying them in their integral growth. 

The Mission and Identity of International Salesian Youth Sports Association

President Leibold then presented the current reality of International Salesian Youth Sports Association, an Association founded after Salesian Youth Movement – Italy to promote opportunities for encounter through sport among young people from FMA and SDB houses in European provinces and other interested countries. These young people follow a path of integral formation according to the Salesian educational tradition and, through the games of the International Salesian Youth Sports Association, experience the joy of being together and sharing the same values with peers from other nations. 

The Association is the fruit of the initiative of Salesians and Salesian Sisters who, together with lay collaborators, continue to believe in sport and play as essential elements of Salesian charismatic identity. This is reflected in the message of Fr Pascual Chávez Villanueva to SYM in 2006, recalling how Don Bosco recognized from the beginning of the Oratory the educational power of play and sport, making the playground the heart of his houses and creating a joyful, spontaneous, and family-like youth environment. In such a setting, he proposed a cheerful Christian way of life capable of leading young people to holiness. Sport thus became an important element of the Salesian educational and pastoral proposal. Salesian presence in the field of sport remains significant today, reaching many young people who might otherwise not receive a possibility of education. Faithfulness to typical Salesian choices remains essential: centrality of the young person, the active and guiding presence of educators among youth, the courage to offer educational proposals that challenge young people to grow, and the commitment to evangelization. In the world of sport, Salesians are called to promote an alternative vision of sport at the service of persons and their integral development. 

Sport as an Integral Part of Youth Ministry

Fr Bejarano and Sr Borja emphasized the priority of initiating a process of reflection and awareness on the value of sports ministry as an integral part of Youth Ministry. Joining forces, identifying suitable strategies, and proposing necessary pathways to revive the sporting dimension of the Salesian mission will be the next steps in putting into practice what emerged from the meeting.