The Curriculum

Curriculum

The Concept:

Modeled after the success of Grassroot Soccer's fight against HIV and AIDS in Africa, the Grassroot Project is built on the premise that kids learn best from role models, people they trust and look up to. Combining a talent and passion for sports with the ability to work hard to achieve their goals, college athletes in the US are important and powerful role models for today's youth. The Grassroot Project trains DC area college athletes in an extensive HIV prevention and life skills curriculum, and these athletes deliver the program within local schools.

The Curriculum:

college athlete with kids

The Grassroot Project curriculum consists of a series of games and activities that allow kids to explore sensitive issues relating to HIV/AIDS. College student-athletes are trained as Grassroot Coaches to deliver the game based curriculum to at-risk youth aged 10 to 15 years. The purpose is to create a fun, friendly and safe environment in which the kids can increase knowledge and develop healthy attitudes and behaviors concerning HIV/AIDS, and to share their feelings and beliefs about the disease. Participants are empowered with skills necessary to lead healthy lives, including critical thinking, decision-making, communication and resiliency.

college athlte with kids

The activities in the Grassroot Project curriculum are all meant to engage youth in active, participatory learning, as we believe strongly that "learning is not a spectator sport." For example, in the activity "Find the Ball" students are asked to:

  • Form two lines, facing each other, with participants in each line standing shoulder to shoulder and their hands behind their back (imagine a wall in a soccer game).
  • The coach places a ball in one member of each team's hands, and the students are asked to pass the ball to each other without giving up who has it, while trying to guess who on the other team is holding the ball.
  • As the game progresses, students are instructed to imagine that whoever is holding the ball is "HIV Positive" - the coach freezes the game and asks who on each team has the ball.
  • After the students fail to guess correctly, the coach reveals the key message that "you can't tell who has HIV/AIDS just by looking at someone."
  • The students and coach then discuss how to determine your HIV status (blood test) and what myths exist about people with HIV

Program graduates are encouraged to share what they've learned with others in their community, and are expected to become advocates for healthy living and positive behavior.In order to alleviate the stigma associated with the disease and the discrimination that results, individuals, families and communities must create positive environments in which people feel free to ask questions, find answers, and get tested. For this reason all participants sign a contract at the beginning of the program that is based on the following principals: respect, comfort, participate and share.

kids in gymnasium with coaches

The initial curriculum was developed by Grassroot Soccer in early 2003 and has received extensive consultation from: the Zimbabwe Ministry of Education, the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, behavioral scientists, educational consultants, medical professionals, and the role models delivering Programs with youth. These various formal and informal evaluations since the Grassroot Soccer Pilot Project in 2003 have helped Grassroot Soccer fine-tune its curriculum to focus on the most important aspects of knowledge, attitude and behavior change that influence healthy decision making for youth. The curriculum was adapted for use in the US by both Grassroot Soccer and The Grassroot Project staff.