GAME DENMARK • PLAYMAKER PROGRAM
GAME HAS GIVEN ME A NEW WAY TO LOOK AT THE WORLD
For two years, 20-year old Esmat Najibi has been leading GAME’s street football practices in an underserved neighborhood of Viborg, Denmark. He was recently chosen as Playmaker of the Year in the Playmaker Program in Denmark. This was not something he imagined could happen when he fled from Afghanistan to Denmark in 2009. Every Friday, Esmat Najibi puts on his GAME t-shirt. He teaches kids to play street football in a way that ensures that it is not just those kids yelling the loudest that get to decide everything. That was how it was when he was growing up in the neighborhood Ellekonebakken in Viborg, Denmark. "We played football, and then there were fights. There wasn’t anyone who could control us. It was just us. It would have been better if there had been someone to help us, so it wasn’t always the one yelling the loudest in the group and on the field who called the shots," explains Esmat Najibi. MORE THAN INSTRUCTOR TRAINING
There was not much to do for Esmat and his friends in Ellekonebakken. This is unfortunately reflected in the criminal records of some of those with whom he grew up. In 2017, an after-school program worker introduced Esmat Najibi to GAME’s Playmaker Program. Esmat said yes to giving it a try, but it was only when he went to the Playmaker Camp with other young people from all 32
over Denmark that he understood that it was about much more than just football. "I said yes to becoming Playmaker in GAME when I found out that the instructor training was about much more than football. It gave me a new way to look at the world," says Esmat Najibi. It was especially the combination of sport and conflict management that caught his attention. "We learn about much more than just football here. For instance, it’s also about conflict management. This has helped to shape my personality and taught me to tell the difference between right and wrong. Now, I understand the difference, and how we can influence each other with what we do and say. I use this at practice when I see a conflict," Esmat Najibi explains. TRAINING AFFECTS SCHOOL WORK
According to Esmat, he has found something at GAME that he did not find anywhere else.
We learn about much more than just football here. For instance, it’s also about conflict management. This has helped to shape my personality and taught me to tell the difference between right and wrong. - Esmat Najibi, Playmaker in GAME Zone in Viborg
Something he can use on the football field, in the school and when meeting new people. "I did not notice it at first, but I have become better at talking to people in a way that they understand. I talked a kind of street talk before. I don’t know where it came from. Now, I have gotten used to talking with kids and parents at the street football practices. That
