Setting the scene: Every age has its own misunderstandings. In life you can not understand everything. Little Francesca has always been concerned. It is difficult to understand and accept that your hero, your dad, will suddenly not come to get you out of school, but you instead will have to go and visit him in a prison. It is difficult for a children 9-year old to understand the pain and shame of Francesca. Sometimes even teachers trained to understand growing kids and complex family situations, may not even understand and accept situations like those of Francesca, and in this way involuntarily judge it and label it as the daughter of an inmate. At a crucial age, Francesca changes schools and changes her classmates in the hope of finding teachers and sympathetic friends, who accept her for who she is; a fifth-grade girl, who is angry at life and no longer knows who she can trust. Francesca meets the “One Team” project at this stage of life, a pair of teachers and coaches. She was convinced that no one will teach her anything, because sooner or later those people could leave her alone and judge her. With extreme diffidence Francesca has flocked to the court of the school, with diffidence she met the giants of the Italian basketball team, with diffidence she showed enthusiasm on the stands of Olimpia Milano’s fans.

A personal challenge and positive action. One day sitting in that circle that welcomes and gives everyone the right to speak, Francesca asked the tall player, if it was true, that the basketball allowed him to find friends. That day Francesca shared with us all her greatest fear, which is being alone. Having said it in that circle gave her the answer, the sport does not leave anybody alone, and a team can be a family; you can trust in the basket, the ball, and the court. If you win or lose you can always come back to the court a little stronger, and restart. Francesca has begun to smile, and the frequent quarrels with her classmates in the court have disappeared, Francesca does not scream in anger, but passes the ball and counts the points of her team.

Impact: Thanks to the One Team Project, Francesca has begun to believe that beautiful things are possible to achieve for her too. She has gained hope in life, and her progressive development will allow to not feel to much alone