Back

Olympic Legend Edwin Moses And Formula One Hero Emerson Fittipaldi Launch New Laureus Project In Rio

bolainlinekid
·         ‘With the Laureus Awards coming to Rio we are keen to expand our support for young people in Brazil - I am delighted that Bola Pra Frente Institute is becoming a part of the Laureus Family,’ says Laureus Chairman Edwin Moses
·         Laureus World Sports Awards to be held in Rio de Janeiro in 2013 & 2014
·         For pictures of Moses and Fittipaldi visit go to www.laureusarchive.com
RIO DE JANEIRO, September 27, 2012 – The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation is to support a second community sports-based programme in Rio de Janeiro to help disadvantaged young people.
Edwin Moses, Chairman of the Laureus World Sports Academy, and fellow Laureus Academy Member Emerson Fittipaldi teamed up in Rio to announce that Bola Pra Frente Institute, a football focused project in the poor community of Muquico, Guadalupe, is to receive funding from global sports charity Laureus.
Established by Brazilian football star Jorginho, who played in the 1994 Brazil World Cup winning team, Bola Pra Frente Institute uses football to encourage youngsters to ‘be a star’ on the field and in family life, school and community.
Tomorrow Moses and Fittipaldi are to visit another sports project, Luta Pela Paz in Complexo da Maré, which the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation has supported since 2004.
Double Olympic champion Edwin Moses said: “With the 2013 and 2014 Laureus World Sports Awards being held in Rio de Janeiro, ahead of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, we are keen to expand our involvement in Brazil. Laureus is much more than an Awards Ceremony. As our Patron Nelson Mandela has said ‘sport has the power to change the world and change people’s lives. Since we began, Laureus has raised over €55 million for projects which have improved the lives of more than one-and-a-half million young people.
“At the moment, we already support one very successful project in Brazil – Luta Pela Paz, where boxing is used as a means to keep young people off the streets and out of trouble and now I am delighted that Bola Pra Frente Institute is becoming a part of the Laureus Family. We hope over the next 18 months to send a message from Rio de Janeiro around the world showing how sport can make a difference to the lives of every one of us.”
At the visit guests were welcomed by the Bola Pra Frente Institute band as they toured the football pitch, where there some football sessions and penalty shoot-outs. This was followed by various presentations showing the facilities the project offered the young people, including an IT room and an Arts room. There was a question and answer session with Edwin and Emerson at the end of the visit.
Emerson Fittipaldi, who won the Formula One World Championship in 1972 and 1974 and created an interest in motor racing in Brazil which has become a passion today, said: “It was a wonderful and busy day. To visit two projects in Rio that are helping young people through such different sports shows the breadth of Laureus’ activities. Bola Pra Frente opens up many possibilities as it not only works with children but it will in the future open up a training centre which will educate project leaders who can then go and establish similar projects in Brazil and other countries.”
The vision of Bola Pra Frente Institute is for a fair social system, where all young people have the opportunity for social advancement through sport, education, art, culture and professional training. In the coming years, the development of the ‘Master´s Touch Training Centre’ will allow BPF to share their model in the region. It is hoped BPF will ultimately train enough leaders to help around 20,000 young people benefit from its innovative methods. The partnership between BPF and Laureus focuses on the development and implementation of a monitoring and evaluation system.
One of the challenges facing sports programmes is to measure the impact of sport on the lives of young people.  Confidence, better social skills, respect for rules and improved employability, education and health are all attributes that sports programmes can deliver, but traditionally this has been difficult to measure.
Laureus, with over ten years experience, has developed expertise in this area drawn from working with over 100 youth-based sports programmes worldwide. The partnership with Bola Pra Frente Institute will see the implementation of systems to assist the programme to better evaluate its impact, which in turn leads to better and more targeted services to its young participants as well as increased prospects of funding from other sources.
Luta Pela Paz (Fight for Peace) is based in Complexo da Maré, a favela where there has been more than a decade of territorial drug wars. Children and adolescents are often involved in crime, gangs and gunviolence. The project uses boxing and martial arts combined with education and personal development to realise the potential of young people in the community to keep them off the streets and away from trouble and allow the chance of a better future.
Edwin Moses and Emerson Fittipaldi are members of the Laureus World Sports Academy, a unique association of the greatest living sports legends, who volunteer their time to support the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation which works to improve the lives of young people around the world.
The mission of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation is to use sport as the means to combat some of the world’s toughest social challenges facing young people today such as juvenile crime, gangs, HIV/AIDS, discrimination, lack of education and social exclusion. Laureus currently supports more than 100 community sports projects in 34 countries which work towards this goal.
Laureus combines the Laureus World Sports Awards, the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation and the Laureus World Sports Academy to form a unique international sports organisation that uses the inspirational power of sport as a force for good. Laureus is a global leader in research, expertise and best practice in supporting grassroots sports programmes around the world.
The Laureus World Sports Awards Cermony will be held in the famous Theatro Municipal,  a spectacular venue in the heart of Rio de Janeiro, which stages gala performances by international dancers and musicians and which also hosted events at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio +20.  Rio is the birthplace of sport and culture in Brazil, a state of vibrant energy and natural beauty that has become a showcase of the country to the world. The beaches, the legendary Maracanã Stadium and the unique Sambódromo samba stadium will play a significant role in the staging of the Laureus World Sports Awards.
For further information, please contact:
Gerald Meier,
Head of Global Communications
Tel: +44 (0)20 7514 2749
Nadia Nightingale
Photo Archive: www.laureusarchive.com
Video Archive: www.laureusdigital.com
Websites: www.laureus.com
Follow us on Twitter @LaureusSport
NOTES TO EDITORS
The Patron of Laureus is Nelson Mandela.  At the inaugural Laureus World Sports Awards in 2000, President Mandela said: “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. Sport can awaken hope where there was previously only despair.” This has become the philosophy of Laureus; the driving force behind its work.
Laureus is a universal movement that celebrates the power of sport to bring people together as a force for good.  Laureus is composed of three core elements - the Laureus World Sports Academy, the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation and the Laureus World Sports Awards - which collectively celebrate sporting excellence and use sport as the means to promote social change.
The members of the Laureus World Sports Academy are: Giacomo Agostini, Marcus Allen, Franz Beckenbauer, Boris Becker, Ian Botham, Sergey Bubka, Bobby Charlton, Sebastian Coe, Nadia Comaneci, Yaping Deng, Marcel Desailly, Kapil Dev, Mick Doohan, David Douillet, Emerson Fittipaldi, Sean Fitzpatrick, Dawn Fraser, Cathy Freeman, Tanni Grey-Thompson, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Mika Häkkinen, Tony Hawk, Mike Horn, Miguel Indurain, Michael Johnson, Kip Keino, Franz Klammer, Dan Marino, Edwin Moses (Chairman), Nawal El Moutawakel, Robby Naish, Ilie Nastase, Martina Navratilova, Alexey Nemov, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Morné du Plessis, Hugo Porta, Steve Redgrave, Vivian Richards, Monica Seles, Mark Spitz, Daley Thompson, Alberto Tomba, Steve Waugh and Katarina Witt.
The Laureus Academy members volunteer their services as global ambassadors for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, which was set up to promote the use of sport as a tool for social change. The Foundation addresses social challenges through a worldwide programme of sports related community development initiatives. Since its inception, Laureus has raised over €55 million for projects which have helped to improve the lives of more than one-and-a-half million young people. The mission of the Laureus Foundation is to use sport as the means to combat some of the world’s toughest social challenges facing young people today such as juvenile crime, gangs, HIV/AIDS, discrimination, social exclusion, landmines awareness and health problems like obesity. The Academy is supported in its work by the members of the Laureus Ambassadors programme, a select group of current and retired sportsmen and sportswomen who have achieved sporting greatness, plus non-sporting personalities who have made significant contributions to the sporting community during their careers. 
The Laureus World Sports Awards is the premier global sports awards honouring the greatest sportsmen and women across all sports each year.  The winners are selected by the ultimate sports jury - the 46 members of the Laureus World Sports Academy, the living legends of sport honouring the great athletes of today.  The Awards are presented at an annual Awards Ceremony, attended by global figures from sport and entertainment, which is broadcast to 120 countries and territories.  
There is a two-part voting process to find the winners of the Laureus World Sports Awards.  Firstly, a Selection Panel of the world’s leading sports editors, writers and broadcasters from over 120 countries votes to create a shortlist of six Nominations in various categories, including Laureus World Sportsman of the Year, Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year, Laureus World Team of the Year, Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year and Laureus World Comeback of the Year.  Then the members of the Laureus World Sports Academy vote by secret ballot to select the Award winners from the shortlist. The Laureus Academy Members also vote for the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disabilityand the Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year, the Nominations for which are made by specialist panels. 
Proceeds from the Laureus World Sports Awards directly benefit and underpin the work of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation which supports over 100 community sports projects around the world.  The 2012 Laureus World Sports Awards were held in London on February 6.
Laureus was founded by its Patrons Richemont and Daimler and is supported by its Global Partners Mercedes-Benz and IWC Schaffhausen.
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz, the world’s oldest automaker, can look back on a unique tradition. It is the most valuable automotive premium brand which stands for quality, safety, comfort, design and sustainable mobility. Mercedes-Benz enjoys an excellent reputation, particularly in the field of safety. Many pioneering technical innovations that are standard automotive features today were first seen in a Mercedes-Benz car. The Mercedes-Benz engineers will in the future consistently reinvent the automobile – with the same enthusiasm and innovation as Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz in 1886. Moreover, Mercedes-Benz has been actively supporting professional and amateur sport for decades and has become established as a dependable partner in the fields of motor sport, football, golf, horse riding and tennis.  Mercedes-Benz is a Global Partner of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. Since the beginning of the Foundation's operations in 2000, Mercedes-Benz has shared and supported the goals and values of this worldwide charity programme where sports play the core role in the fight against social issues - Laureus has become a vital element of the corporate social responsibility programme of Mercedes-Benz.
IWC Schaffhausen
With a clear focus on technology and development, the Swiss watch manufacturer IWC Schaffhausen has been producing watches of lasting value since 1868. The company has gained an international reputation based on a passion for innovative solutions and technical ingenuity. One of the world’s leading brands in the luxury watch segment, IWC crafts masterpieces of Haute Horlogerie at its finest, combining supreme precision with exclusive design

Email Sign up

Email Sign-up

Sign up for all things Laureus

Get regular updates throughout the year