Russian-born Irina Aleksandrova co-founded Sportunity in 2013 and hasn’t looked back. Her ultimate goal was to improve children’s lives through sport, “in particular we focus on disadvantaged children from marginalised communities in Luxembourg who need encouragement, motivation and a strong role model.”
Originally the initiative was designed to support athletes with outstanding talent, but this year Sportunity extended its efforts to the local community. “We’ve added a number of additional programmes that target a far greater number of kids. They may not be tomorrow’s champions, but many of them come from disadvantaged backgrounds and we encourage them to do better in life.”
She is clearly passionate about these children and it is easy to understand why. “I’ve met a young child who walked for three months from Afghanistan with his brother, no parents. Refugee kids like him may never have played a sport in their lives and now I see him as part of our society; I see his eyes sparkling again.”
Sportunity teams up with world class, high-profile athletes who donate time to training and mentoring these children and to connecting with them. “Seeing this in action is very touching and inspiring for everyone involved.”
Aleksandrova has reason to be optimistic. Her NGO recently received a first prize of €6,000 in the ING Solidarity Awards, in the “national projects from 100% voluntary associations” category. This was largely in recognition of their Sporty Santas initiative, where “well-trained Santas will be delivering gifts and sports activities to kids in several refugee shelters in Luxembourg.” That initiative and other sport-orientated refugee projects were possible as a result of support received from both public and private funders.
So what was Aleksandrova’s own Christmas wish? “I want every kid to have an opportunity in life and to realise their true potential.”