Sports in the country have very little in terms of public structure, says Ana Moser

“In Brazil, every athlete comes from luck.”

This is how Ana Moser, 53, bronze medalist for the Brazilian volleyball team at the Atlanta-1996 Olympic Games, summarizes the situation in Brazilian sport.

Retired from the courts since 1999, the former athlete continues to dedicate her life to the sport, as an activist.

A member of Atletas pelo Brasil, an organization that brings together sportsmen and ex-athletes, she was recently in Brasília and also participated in virtual meetings to debate the General Sports Law project, in particular the part of the text on the creation of the National Sports System. Sport (Sinesp).

The bill is on the Senate Constitution and Justice Committee. There is an agreement for it to be voted on this Wednesday (1), however, some lawmakers already admit that the item can only be put on the agenda on December 8th.

Currently under the rapporteurship of Roberto Rocha (PSDB-MA), the text of the law was created in 2017, with impetus from Renan Calheiros (MDB-AL), then president of the house. The document is over 200 pages long.

“The importance of it [Sinesp] is that it is the only way to have, in practice, the ‘sport for everyone’ in the country. It puts who does what, how they do it and with what resource”, defends Ana.

She recalls that the idea of ​​sport for everyone is provided for in the Federal Constitution. It starts from the understanding that sports practice should not only serve high performance, but also leisure, health, education, and should integrate all ages.

One of Sinesp’s objectives is to define which instance of the public power, and also the private one, is responsible for each of these sections related to sport.

The text, which can still be changed, says that the federal government should prioritize investments in sports in the context of training and high performance; the states, in training actions and sports experience; and the municipalities, on the educational side.

The system also deals with the National Sports Council (Conesp), which would become responsible for approving, for example, the guidelines for the use of the National Sports Fund –provided for in the Constitution, but never put into effect– which would also be created with the General Law of Sport.

Ana Moser says there is no need to draw inspiration from other countries for the functioning of Sinesp and other important regulations in Brazilian sport, such as the National Sports Plan. The way to organize these structures exists in Brazil itself, in the areas of Education and Health, which have their plans, systems and councils actively working.

Ana argues that, to be effective, public sports policies must dialogue with other areas. It argues that the child who needs education, culture and health is the same child who needs sport.

“Brazilian sport has very little in terms of public structure. It resists, turns around and even expands due to the organization of civil society. Which is terrible, because only public authorities are capable of creating structures on a national scale”, it says.

Without the structure, Brazilian sport is at the mercy of specific programs. Without an ecosystem in which federative entities, NGOs and confederations are divided and integrated, creating a national network to promote sports from childhood to the end of life, in education, leisure, practice for health and, of course , at high yield.

“If you want to start your child in sports, where are you going?”, he asks. To become an athlete, today, it is necessary to pay for a club, for private lessons, or by chance to have a social program close to home.

Moser states that, in the current system, a person can only become an athlete if he is lucky, as there is no national public policy that guarantees that, in all places in Brazil, the necessary structure for sports training is offered.

This is the reason, according to her, for not having left the sport after retiring from the court.

“The athlete, as a person and a citizen, has to participate, understand, not only be a doer, but a participant, to care. Every athlete comes from luck, either he was born in the right place, or he found the right person… we you know how difficult it is,” he says.

“Of course, personal effort is paramount, but nobody gets there alone, so recognizing this whole thing is having the responsibility to share, share, participate, understand and use your voice”, he concludes.