Carol Solberg teaches beach volleyball and assists children in Rio

The voice that was hampered by firing “outside, Bolsonaro” rises to gather 50 children and teenagers, aged 6 to 16, around a volleyball net on Leblon beach, in Rio de Janeiro.

Player Carol Solberg, 34, annoyed with social inequality, has managed to put the Levante Institute on its feet since August. The project promotes free classes of the modality, twice a week (on Tuesdays and Thursdays), accompaniment with a psychologist, cultural tours and serves meals after the activities in the sand.

Conceived even before the Covid-19 pandemic, the athlete took advantage of her free time with the postponement of the tournaments to structure it and resolve the bureaucratic parts, such as setting up a CNPJ (National Register of Legal Entities).

He also visited social projects and asked for advice from the judoka Olympic medalist Flávio Canto, responsible for Instituto Reação, created in Rocinha in 2004.

Without the contribution of sponsors or benefits of the Sports Incentive Law, Carol bought all the sporting material with her own resources –items such as balls, nets and uniforms– and proposed to pay a salary for some professionals, while managing to gather another good part of her hand. work voluntarily.

In the beginning, the player was the one who produced the nearly 100 sandwiches in her house to give to students, but recently she started counting on the help of Mega Natural Alimentos – an agreement valid until the end of this year. The natural juice is offered by a company, Greenpeople.

“The idea was [ensinar] volleyball, but when I think about the Levante project, I use my network of friends to help each one out as they please. For example, if I have a friend who plays the guitar, or who teaches dancing, I invite us to take a class. The sport is an excuse for the children to be there,” says Carol.

“Of course it’s already amazing to see the evolution of children [no esporte], but I want it to be a welcoming space. May they feel good to share their problems. The idea of ​​taking a healthy snack really motivated me. I have two children [José, 9, e Salvador, 4] and I’m very happy when they do a sport activity and eat some fruit, my day starts well.”

In this network of supporters, there are friends such as the owner of a kiosk on the beach (La Carioca) that offers fruit salads and the owner of a cafeteria (Da Casa da Tatá) that occasionally supplies sweets.

“That makes a difference, they come home so happy. It’s not just a place to play volleyball. Every Tuesday, the psychologist [Renata Silva] talk to them, play games, and we get to know each other,” says Carol.

“This weekend we take some to the theater, we start to notice when they are downcast, needing a conversation, who came with the expectation to eat… There are children, for example, who want to take a sandwich to their brother who couldn’t come over.”

There are other people on site during classes, who are ready to monitor the minors – such as taking care of the mask and the alcohol gel, for example.

There are currently 21 children and teenagers waiting for a place in the project, which makes the player anxious. “The waiting list is horrible, we’d like to serve everyone. It’s so bad to say no, but I need to get organized. I hope we can get support to hire teachers and receive a larger class.”

Before each enrollment, the psychologist conducts an interview with the students’ parents or guardians and visits their respective homes. Most of them live in the Cruzada São Sebastião community, a housing complex embedded in Leblon that brings together almost 7,000 residents.

The neighborhood in the south of Rio has one of the most expensive square meters in the country, valued at R$21,710 on average in August, according to the FipeZap indicator, which measures the sale price of real estate in Brazilian capitals.

The majority population of Cruzada São Sebastião is composed of low-income and low-educated people, who still deal with the stigma of drug trafficking, jointly led by the Comando Vermelho faction.

“I live in Rio de Janeiro, a city that exposes social inequality. The beach seems to be a democratic place, but it shows how the children who live in the Cruzada take it hard on every corner of Leblon. You notice the women hiding their bags”, says Carol, a child of Ipanema and daughter of former volleyball player Isabel Salgado.

“I come from a privileged family, the sport gave me access to everything, opened my mind and I was able to travel the world. Now, imagine for a child who doesn’t have this opportunity? It’s up to us to make a difference.”

A critic of President Jair Bolsonaro (non-party), Carol is attached to the examples of solidarity she has experienced with the Levante Institute.

“When we play the project, we get to know incredible people. Marcelo, for example, who owns a print shop in São Paulo, has a social action in Cracolândia and when he learned about our initiative, he helped us with all the ecobags (reusable bag)” , she says.

“We can’t get used to seeing a person sleeping in the street and following our path. This government has opened up these issues even further.”

In September last year, Carol was denounced by the Superior Court of Sports Justice (STJD) for saying “out, Bolsonaro” during Sportv’s broadcast after winning a bronze medal in a stage of the Brazilian Beach Volleyball Circuit.

The agency understood that the player hurt the image of the Brazilian Volleyball Confederation (CBV), sponsored by Banco do Brasil since 1991. Carol then received a fine of R$1,000, later converted into a warning by the STJD.

The punishment did not stop Carol from expressing her dissatisfaction with the Bolsonaro government. On September 7 of this year, the Brazilian Independence birthday holiday, she once again asked for the president to leave.

“Very sad this September 7. Using this date to celebrate hatred, violence, guns, lies and total disregard for democracy,” Carol wrote.

The athlete also used her social networks to protest against homophobic messages posted by the central Maurício Souza, 33, fired by Minas Tênis Clube on the 27th.

“I think the episode only reinforces something that, unfortunately, is very latent in our society: intolerance. When it doesn’t kill, it totally destroys whoever is hurt,” Carol said.