Development: Diambars: an online French Institute combining football and education

A sports training and educational centre located some de 80 km from Dakar, Senegal, the Diambars Institute has recently launched a virtual school to help its students keep up with their classes online during their football tournaments in Europe. Devised by three French football stars and an entrepreneur from Dakar, this educational project is designed to assist 13-year-old Senegalese children for a five-year period.

Established on a 38-acre site in the seaside resort town of Saly, 80 km from Dakar, the Diambars Institute combines football training with schooling. This innovative project came out of the dogged determination of Jean-Marc Adjovi-Boco, a French football pro who formerly played for the Racing Club de Lens, and the support of prominent sponsors such as Patrick Vieira and Bernard Lama, two other French football stars. Their goal is clear: “Our aim is to use football as a driving force for education. We know that only 20% of our Diambars students will go on to become professional football players. We want to guarantee that those who don’t can still become champions in life”, explains Jean-Marc Adjovi-Boco, director of the Diambars Institute, which he co-founded with Bernard Lama, the school’s president, and Patrick Vieira. Schooling is inherent to the training academy’s concept. Because not all of its students are destined to become top-level footballers, the Diambars Institute does everything possible to ensure that all of its students have choices and can succeed in life after their five-year training program: education is the key to success.

Every year, the Institute welcomes a class of 18 incoming students, selected on the basis of their football skills. The 13-year old kids all dream of becoming football stars. Although these budding footballers are handpicked out of a pool of some 3,000 to 4,000 applicants for their sporting abilities, the academy also provides them with five years of schooling. “Any kid who sets foot in the academy will complete his school program. Accordingly, we invest a lot of effort into each and every one of them”, affirms Saer Seck, president of Diambars Senegal. Diambars means “warriors” in the noble sense, such as “samurais”. This is the philosophy that motivates Bernard Lama, Patrick Vieira, Saer Seck and Jean-Marc Adjovi-Boco, inspiring them “to give back to football what it gave us”.

This philosophy is also expressed through the Institute’s various partnerships. The cost of the 7-million-euro Diambars project will be spread out over five years, with the first classes launched in November 2003. The Institute receives support from the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Regional Council, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UNESCO, the Senegalese government and leading companies such as Air France and Adidas. The children go to football practice early in the morning, at 7 a.m. (before their classes), and again in the afternoon. The goal after five years is to help them become men. “We provide them with schooling and assist them once they have completed their studies. Football is the means to an end rather than the end”, comments Jean-Marc Adjovi-Boco.

To turn this big-hearted project into a reality, Jean-Marc Adjovi-Boco decided to acquire project management, financial and marketing skills at ESC-Lille, a top business school in the north of France, and obtained his diploma in 2001. The Diambars project was kicked off in spring 2003 at ESC-Lille during a press conference that received wide media coverage. The Institute’s first foundation stone was laid soon after. ESC-Lille’s partnership with the Diambars Institute continues to this day.

The Institute’s educational programs are devised to fit every child’s level and needs. Most of the students come from underprivileged backgrounds: some will begin learning the three R’s, while others, more advanced, will discover history, foreign languages, sciences and computers.

The training program passed an important milestone this year by broadening its use of new information and communication technologies. Jean-Luc Muracciole, educational director of the Institute’s website, completely restructured the organization of classes in order to develop an online francophone school offering classes from First Form to Upper Sixth. This will allow the students to continue following their classes online when they are required to travel for European tournaments. “Equal opportunities and the sharing of knowledge are the keys issues here”, points out Jean-Luc Muracciole. “The students are quick learners and are actively involved in the project”. For many years, this French educator taught students with learning difficulties in a secondary school in Reims. He views new technologies as a weapon against academic failure and has equipped the educational site with multilingual translation portals, online dictionaries, geographic maps and internet links.

Many subjects are taught online, from economics and math to the history of religions and foreign languages. All of the courses focus on universal issues such as velocity, gravity, water, the natural landscape, family and sports. “The classes are structured in a cross-disciplinary manner rather than the vertical approach of traditional schools. However, the knowledge required for passing the exams remains unchanged: the only aspect that has been redesigned is the presentation of the classes, to reflect everyday life. This will enable the youngsters to gain a better grasp on the main issues of the world they live in”, observes Jean-Luc Muracciole.

Each student is given an educational school bag full of virtual tools. All of the classes can be downloaded. “Sound is extremely important. Africa has a strong oral tradition that must be preserved”, explains Jean-Luc Muracciole. The instructors at Diambars also have their own website, which provides them with a database that they can continuously improve through a content-modification system that requires validation by the educational directors. The instructors can decide whether they want to use the “bridges” provided between the various subjects.

Designed by Senegalese architect Ramatoulaye Diagne Sall Sao, the Diambars Institute was conceived in the shape and size of a football field. The premises are very attractive, with the sports medicine building and the administrative buildings and classrooms standing on opposite sides of the field. A gigantic 17-meter “football” will be erected centre field to house a conference room, restaurant and function room.

Every year, the young Senegalese students fly to Europe (compliments of Air France) for a two-month stay. After a string of matches in Spain and Norway, they are welcomed by volunteer families in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais who host the youngsters during their stay in France.

This experimental online educational project may soon spawn imitators: the Diambars team has recently been contacted by the French Table Tennis Federation and the Sports Foundation of Axa Assurances and is getting ready to share its inventive teaching method. A team of philosophers and scientists is even studying the possibility of implementing the project internationally.

Annik Bianchini

Website:
www.diambars.com

Last updated: 16.03.2006