Barça Academy Warsaw supporting Ukrainian refugees
The families of Barça Academy Warsaw are working hard these days to help different groups of refugees from Ukraine, especially by giving them shelter in their homes and providing them with transport. The FC Barcelona soccer school in the Polish capital is also giving youngsters the chance to try to take their minds off their problems by doing sport with children of a similar age. Some 20 Ukrainian children have joined the normal training sessions and the weekend games in the internal league.
These include 8-year-old Ivan Obal, who has moved to Warsaw with his family. He was previously part of the Lokomotiv Kiev academy and raised many eyebrows for his amazing ball skills. The school based in Tarchomin has also welcomed the brothers Artem and Ester, 12 and 10 years old respectively, who have arrived from Kiwerce.
The Local Project Director of Barça Academy Warsaw, Jonatan Angulo, said that this is a “way to help these children and to use sport so they can forget for a while about everything they have been through at such a young age … The biggest difficulty is the language barrier, but football is a universal language that fosters interaction. We do our best to get them to understand each exercise so they can play and have fun with their other players.”