Now, more than ever, we need to intervene to halt a worrying trend towards physical inactivity and social isolation among the young. 70% of young people stop playing sport by the age of 13. For many of our youth, sport has simply stopped being fun. By quitting sports, young people lose a golden opportunity for developing healthy lifestyles and improving their social skills.

Fanzland will work to reverse this downward trend through the platforms kids love best: online gaming and social media. But instead of fostering inactivity, as these platforms often do, we use sports fandom, participation, and individualized training programs to offer a positive experience and a variety of opportunities for personal growth.

We brought together specialists from various sectors to provide insight into how kids think, learn, and to understand their motivations and barriers to participation, and found that video games are effective tools for learning due to the learners’ level of activity, motivation, interactivity and active engagement. Games also provide much of what kids want out of a sport experience – fun, experimentation, competition without exclusion, social connection, customization and a measure of control over the activity.

Founded on a unique understanding of social learning theory and child development needs, we use game-based learning techniques to achieve physical and mental wellbeing. Game-based learning, or gamification, is the process of adding games or game-like incentives (e.g. point scoring, virtual rewards, badges) to desired tasks, challenges, or competitions so as to encourage participation.

By turning physical practice into play, our gamification will help children learn basic motor skills over a range of sports, and introduce skills and challenges that are sports specific - when they’re ready.

Fanzland is about more than just playing games and teaching sports skills. It’s not a one-off event, but a long-term development strategy to affect behavior and bring about change, giving young people the opportunity to develop their confidence, self-esteem, skills and competencies beyond the level they would be able to achieve within the framework of formal education.

To help kids grow and stay on track during their adolescent years, Fanzland will also introduce its chabot to the platform. By simulating online sporting personas, the chatbot will provide access to a range of information and support services on further education, volunteering opportunities, and employment support, and will promote campaigns and competitions that challenge fans of all ages to achieve social impact in their community. 

By joining us on our journey, you will help form part of a program that will reach a global audience of young, tech-savvy smartphone users, helping them to realize the many benefits that accrue from participation in sports.