Sport Mentors

Sport Mentors

Joy from exercise, helping, and moments of success

The Sport Mentors services provided by Save the Children are intended for children with parents who have limited opportunities to enable child to have some physical exercise or join in the child’s hobbies. The objective of the services is to support and motivate children and young people to have physical exercise and hobbies and, as a result, have some stability, goals, and positive adult figures in their life.

A Sport Mentor

    • takes the child to some type of free-form exercise
    • or joins in on the child’s hobby
    • meets the mentored child 1–4 times a month, on average
  • is compensated for the travel expenses and other expenses, if necessary
  • encourages and supports the child and shares great experiences with the child!

A Sport Mentor does not need to be a coach or an athlete. All they need are a positive attitude towards exercise and willingness to devote their time to the child. Children need friendly and safe adults in their lives. It is also possible to act as a Sport Mentor for a teammate of your own child.

Volunteers trained as Sport Mentors are asked for permission to examine an extract of any criminal record (Finnish act on examining the criminal background of volunteers working with children 148/2014). We also ask all the volunteers for their commitment to protect the children in the volunteer work as well as a statement from social services.

Sport Mentor services were launched in 2014 in the Tampere region and operates under the support person services for families with children organised by Save the Children. The objective after the pilot period was to expand the operations to the national level.

If you need further information, wish to become a Sport Mentor, or have a child in need of a Sport Mentor, please contact:

Tanja Koskinen (Southern Finland, Helsinki)
tanja.koskinen@pelastakaalapset.fi
tel. +358 50 433 1378

Julia Laapotti (Southern Finland, Turku)
julia.laapotti@pelastakaalapset.fi
tel. +358 514 4768

Ismo Nuutinen (Eastern Finland)
ismo.nuutinen@pelastakaalapset.fi
tel. +358 514 4768

Emmaleena Niemi (Western Finland)
emmaleena.niemi@pelastakaalapset.fi
tel. +358 50 343 1622

Heli Halttunen (Central Finland)
heli.halttunen@pelastakaalapset.fi
tel. +358 50 433 1437

Matias Kavalus (Northern Finland)
matias.kavalus@pelastakaalapset.fi
tel. +358 50 439 3704

Further information: https://www.facebook.com/sporttikummi