Ahead of the annual One Team Awards, which will be presented during the program's annual workshop in mid-September, we are telling a short success story about each of the six shortlisted clubs. Today we feature Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul.
Cem Baser, born in 2005, is an inclusion student with Down Syndrome. Passion lies at the heart of everything Cem does: he is energetic, sociable and cheerful.
Cem is also a big fan of basketball and has always attended local games with his dad. So, when he joined the One Team program, he was hoping to follow in the footsteps of the Fenerbahce Beko’s Istanbul players he enjoyed watching on the court at Ulker Sports and Event Hall.
Down Syndrome is a condition that creates a lack of understanding, communication and motor skills in individuals. And at the beginning of the program, Cem was a shy boy who was not very comfortable with teamwork and communication.
However, he worked with great devotion for eight weeks on the core life skills of the program, including communication, motivation and team-building. Hakan Soylu, Fenerbahce's One Team Coach, was very impressed with his progress, saying: "Cem is a super-talented kid. He was so open to learning every small detail. His communication, motivation, friendship, relationships and teamwork skills are on a much higher level right now."