At the Rafa Nadal Foundation Centers, we continue promoting activities that go beyond sport, focusing on the emotional well-being of young people.
On this occasion, at the Rafa Nadal Foundation Center in Valencia, we carried out a sports and educational activity focused on reflection about bullying and the importance of self-esteem and empathy.
The activity began in an unusual way. Just before starting the sports challenges, we gave each participant a piece of paper with a negative phrase, such as “you will always be alone”, “you are useless”, or “nobody loves you”. They read it silently and kept it with them. This action was repeated at several moments throughout the session, interspersed with different sports challenges.
From the design stage, the educational team took into account the importance of creating a framework of emotional safety. Although the phrases were given without prior explanation, it was a carefully guided experience, in which space was later created to understand what had been experienced and to manage it appropriately.
The aim was to work on empathy and allow participants to approach, in a controlled way and without real violent situations, what it can feel like to suffer bullying.
Throughout the activity, it could be observed how these phrases had a progressive effect on the adolescents, similar to what happens in situations of school bullying, where repeated negative messages gradually take hold.
Some children who were more energetic and participative at the beginning of the session became more confused, more reserved, and less energetic in the exercises as time went on and the phrases accumulated.
At first glance, the session continued normally, but each participant was accumulating these phrases and processing them silently. They did not share their emotions with others; they remained quiet, as often happens in bullying situations.
At the end, we gathered in a circle to share the experience. It was then that reflections emerged: many expressed that they did not like reading those phrases, and that they had made them feel bad or uncomfortable.
From there, the educator guided a key conversation explaining how repeated negative messages can directly affect self-esteem and emotional well-being, especially in bullying contexts. And how silence becomes the greatest ally of this issue.
The young people understood the importance of taking care of how we speak to and treat others, as well as how we speak to and treat ourselves. They also realized how important it is to express emotions and to speak up in situations of bullying.
These types of dynamics are also designed considering different educational alternatives, such as guided reflection spaces, incorporating emotional containment moments at the end of the activity, or the possibility of working on the same content through simulated situations or testimonies, always with the aim of balancing educational impact with participants’ well-being.