The Niteroi (JEN) School Games reach their penultimate week with record participation and an atmosphere of fierce competition between the major private and public schools. In its 60th annual edition, the event achieved a record number of participants, bringing together 104 schools, and has already seen more than 1,500 matches in six sports. Students from five categories participate in the competitions, from under 10 to under 18 years, in addition to Ginzinho, which is aimed at children from 8 to 10 years old, and is of a non-competitive nature.
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Expanding the presence of municipal schools is one of the highlights of this edition. According to the city council, after years of declining participation, public network units will begin to integrate JEN in a more significant way in 2025.
Last year’s champion Colégio La Salle Abel remains a standout this year. The unit’s athletic coordinator, Carlos Rafael Braga, said the school is competitive, but points to challenges in the schedule.
— Last year, we had the honor of winning the title of Overall Champion, a result that made us very proud and motivated to continue investing in this sport. But this year the calendar has become more stringent, with games very close together and, sometimes, scheduled on exam days, which ends up disrupting the school routine a bit – he thinks.
He stresses that sports are an essential part of the school’s educational project:
-We firmly believe that sports are transforming. It teaches discipline, respect, overcoming, and teamwork.
Two-time overall champion in the 2022 and 2023 editions, Salziano Santa Rosa once again appears at the top in the partial points, followed by La Salle and São Vicente. Salesiano Região Oceânica and Paulo Freire schools are also in operation.
Salziano’s strength in handball is repeated in 2025. Andre Pimentel, physical education coordinator and coach of the men’s team, has been involved with JEN since he was young, when he was still a student-athlete at the school.
—Competition is very old in the city. In Salziano, sport is tradition. We have a structure, specific coaches, we are always in the top four in almost all disciplines, and often compete for gold.
In men’s handball, this year’s campaign was historic:
— We had an amazing participation, reaching the finals of the first three categories and becoming champions in all of them.
According to the city council, which runs the competition through its sports, recreation and education departments, the Niteroi School Games will enter its final week starting tomorrow. The third category (under 14 years) and the fourth category (under 12 years) reached the final stage of their tournaments. As for the fifth category (under 10 years), all of them will be held in the first week of December, and will end on the ninth day.
The opening of JEN 2025, held in May at Concha Acústica, saw a parade from all the schools, a performance by the Bicho Solto band and the lighting of the torch. The ceremony brought together students, parents and teachers with the aim of glorifying sports as a tool for social transformation.
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Category 1 (U18): ZeroHum wins in women’s volleyball; Salesiano Santa Rosa wins in men’s handball and men’s basketball. Salesiano Região Oceanica triumphs in women’s handball; Paulo Freire wins women’s basketball. CE Raul Vidal wins men’s futsal and men’s 7s soccer. Henrique Lage is the women’s futsal champion. Joaquim Tavora wins fut7 and women’s soccer; and Liceu Nilo Peçanha in men’s football.
Category 2 (Under-16): Salziano Santa Rosa dominates in volleyball, handball, and women’s soccer, and in men’s basketball, handball, and soccer 7. Paulo Freire shines in men’s volleyball and women’s basketball. Gay-Lussac wins men’s futsal, and Portugal Neves, women’s futsal. La Salle won the women’s soccer and men’s soccer titles. Liceu took up women’s football.
Category 3 (U14): La Salle wins in men’s volleyball, Fut7 and in women’s basketball; Miraflores wins men’s basketball. Salziano Santa Rosa maintains dominance in men’s and women’s handball.
Category 4 (U12): In women’s basketball, the title went to Marilia Matoso São Domingos.
*This article was published on November 30 in the special educational magazine GLOBO-Niterói.