The João Paulo II Educational Centre is located in a peripheral region of the city of Salvador, the capital of Bahia, where the population’s living conditions have always been characterised by high mortality rates and child malnutrition, a lack of infrastructure, and the absence of schools and places for children to diversify. In addition to lessons with teachers with degrees in literature, mathematics, physics, computer science and pedagogy, the Centre provides out-of-school sports activities, organised by sport and age group, such as five-a-side football, handball, basketball, karate and dance. Sport translates into a highly educational experience, through which team spirit, fair play, discipline, self-control, determination, grit, as well as intelligence applied to the knowledge of rules, strategies, tactics and techniques specific to each discipline are learned.

The João Paulo II Educational Centre welcomes 240 children and adolescents, aged 6 to 12 years, who regularly attend formal school from the 1st to the 6th year of the so-called ‘Ensino Fundamental’, which in Brazil corresponds to our compulsory primary and secondary school cycle.