No, there was no surprise exam, as one of the sixth grade Primary students at the Pericot school feared when he entered class early yesterday. A much more attractive plan awaited them: the visit of two Girona Basketball players, Jeremiah Hill i James Sorolla, to bring sports and the English language closer to children as part of the Mindset Program. An hour and a half before going to training in Fontajau (today I was playing video to prepare for Manresa’s visit), Hill and Sorolla answered the questions that the students had prepared for them, all in English, and then accompanied them in the yard to play games. It’s the fifth season that the club promotes, in collaboration with CaixaBank, this initiative, which this year will reach twenty schools in the province and nearly 800 students.
First, for about twenty minutes, the school’s half a hundred sixth-form students had the opportunity to get to know a little more the idols they often see, either live or on television, on the parquet floor. Hill explained to them that as a child he wanted to play basketball, that his favorite team was the Lakers, that he sleeps between eight and ten hours and that he is at ease in the city of Girona; Sorolla explained to them that he was from Tortosa, that they usually have a party the day after the games to disconnect and that the team combines veterans like Quino Colom and Marc Gasol with other young players with promising talent. According to the escort, the most complicated match “is always the next one”, in this case it would be the one on Saturday against Manresa, while the pivot assured them that “Aíto always asks us to let’s play to the maximum let’s face any opponent , and it helps us improve as players”. The Mindset Program is a way to bring students closer to English, but also for the club and its players to get closer to the little ones. With the promotion to the ACB most students recognize them, like to ask them questions and bring T-shirts and photos for them to sign autographs. Girona has grown since the initiative started in February 2019, with the team at LEB Plata.
Hill explained that his favorite team is the Lakers and that he sleeps between eight and ten hours, and Sorolla said that Girona mixes veterans with talented youngsters
“The children were nervous, they really wanted to do the activity. They were supposed to come a few weeks ago but they postponed it and finally today we will be able to do it”, he explained Dani Gonzalez, one of the sixth grade tutors at the Pericot school. They were preparing the questions with the English teacher, they distributed them among the half a hundred that were there and they were breaking them down, casually, in front of the players.
“This is a fun and sports proposal to promote healthy habits and English speaking to students in the province of Girona. The program is part of the initiatives that CaixaBank, as the club’s social partner, carries out in order to favor people from all over the demarcation”, he explains Claudia Batlleresponsible for the social area. As a novelty, this year a sustainability project is also being promoted which consists of the recycling of bottle caps. The caps will be collected from the schools, turned into key chains and given as a detail to the project participants. The Mindset Program will conclude with a final day at the Fontajau pavilion, where all participating schools will be invited to enjoy a series of activities throughout the morning. This year the program started last December and has already gone through schools such as Carme Auguet and Annexa de Girona, Municipal de Besalú, Annexa de Lloret or Sant Esteve de Guialbes. And he does it with all the staff involved and turned into English teachers for a day. This morning Sorolla and a Hill who just set foot in the classroom, with a cheeky smile, did not hide that he did not miss school and that he enjoys basketball more.