Anadolu Efes continues its 2025–2026 One Team project in Antalya. The learning-difficulty-themed programme will last eight weeks with 15 special athletes.
Anadolu Efes Sports Club has once again brought the EuroLeague social responsibility programme One Team, which it has implemented since 2014, to Antalya. The One Team project, which attracted attention last season with its strong social impact, has been launched again in Antalya for the 2025–2026 season with the same stakeholders, once again putting the inclusive power of sport into practice.
Through the EuroLeague social responsibility programme One Team, which Anadolu Efes Sports Club has carried out for 12 seasons since 2014, the club has touched the lives of 305 children and their families on various social issues through basketball.
Having been awarded the Gold Award after being selected as the “Best Social Responsibility Project Team in Europe” twice consecutively in 2019 and 2020 by EuroLeague, Anadolu Efes Sports Club created a strong social impact in Antalya last season. The Anadolu Efes Sports Club One Team project, implemented in cooperation with Corendon Tourism Group, ZİÇEV (Foundation for Training and Protection of Mentally Disabled Children) and Muratpaşa Municipality, continues this year in Antalya with the same stakeholders. The project, which aims to transform the inclusive power of sport into social benefit, is positioned as a sustainable social impact model.
This Season’s Theme: “Learning Difficulty”
The project aims to draw attention to learning difficulties, which many children in Türkiye face during their education but are often recognised late, and seeks to support social and emotional development through sport. Within the scope of the programme, which started on 9 February and will last eight weeks, 15 special athletes aged 12–25 are participating in training sessions. Themes such as communication and adaptation, attention and focus, self-confidence, patience and control, cooperation, problem solving, compliance with rules and responsibility are addressed through on-court activities and workshops. Activities are held at the Antalya Muratpaşa Municipality Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Sports Hall and aim to reveal participants’ potential through the unifying language of sport.
From the Hoop to Life, From Hearts to Dreams
At the end of last season’s project, noticeable improvements were observed in participants’ social communication skills, while family feedback highlighted increased self-confidence and better adaptation to teamwork. By the end of the process, it was observed that children were able to express themselves more comfortably, took greater responsibility in daily life, and assumed more active roles within team environments.
One of the most meaningful outcomes of the project was participants sharing that they saw Anadolu Efes in their dreams. This expression, showing that basketball and team spirit extended beyond the court into the children’s imagination, was considered one of the strongest indicators of the project’s emotional impact.
Statements from parents such as:
“We observed that the children were able to express themselves as individuals, develop self-sufficiency skills, and begin actively transferring these skills into daily life,”
“Although individual lessons provide important contributions, the teamwork environment created by basketball made our children’s self-confidence more visible. Even children who initially had no interest in basketball became motivated during the process and even began requesting basketballs themselves — one of the most valuable indicators of the project’s impact,”
“The attentive and supportive approach of the coaches ensured that children participated in sport with enjoyment. We experienced that when proper communication is established and an encouraging language is adopted, many challenges can be overcome together,”
revealed the project’s social impact. (2024–2025 season One Team Project video;)
Continuing the journey this year with the same stakeholders indicates that the project is not a one-season initiative but a long-term and measurable social responsibility approach. The sports and social benefit vision of Corendon Tourism Group, ZİÇEV’s expertise in special education, and Anadolu Efes’ belief in the unifying power of sport together create a strong and sustainable social impact network in Antalya.
One Team Ambassador Erkan Yılmaz
The ambassador for the 2025–2026 season of the One Team project is Erkan Yılmaz, who plays for Anadolu Efes. Participating in training sessions within the project, Erkan Yılmaz emphasises the importance of team spirit and communication, while Muratpaşa Municipality basketball coach İrgecan Işık manages the process as the One Team Coach.
Eight-Week Structured Development Programme
The eight-week programme conducted within the One Team project has been planned according to a main theme each week and structured to support both individual and social development of participants:
- Week 1 – Communication and Adaptation: Introduction and adaptation activities, warm-up games, free ball exercises, ball holding and rolling drills.
- Week 2 – Attention and Focus: Hand-eye coordination and balance exercises, parachute activities, passing to coloured targets and paired passing drills.
- Week 3 – Self-Confidence: Workshops supporting individual expression and self-presentation processes.
- Week 4 – Patience and Control: Balance exercises, slow-paced dribbling drills, controlled movement around obstacles; activities supported by a ceramics workshop.
- Week 5 – Cooperation: Group-based workshops focusing on collective movement and joint production processes.
- Week 6 – Problem Solving: Tactical cognitive awareness exercises, coordination and speed activities, mini-course drills and fun competitions.
- Week 7 – Compliance with Rules and Team Synergy: Team play, intra-group communication and passing flow, referee awareness and turn-taking exercises; certification process.
- Week 8 – Participation and Evaluation: Performance review exercises, rhythm workshop, family-participation tug-of-war competition and presentation of participation certificates.
A Social Impact Journey Continuing Since 2014
Since 2014, Anadolu Efes Sports Club has actively contributed to the One Team programme, which integrates more than 40 clubs participating in EuroLeague and EuroCup organisations. Within this programme, where basketball is used as a tool to create real social impact in society, Anadolu Efes has developed special projects each season addressing the needs of its community; from equal opportunity in education to gender equality, from post-disaster support initiatives to the social integration of special athletes.
With its One Team initiatives, the club was selected by EuroLeague as the “Best Social Responsibility Project Team in Europe” in both 2019 and 2020, receiving the Gold Award and becoming the first Turkish club to win this honour. Anadolu Efes also became the first and only team in Europe to win this award consecutively. The project implemented in the 2022–2023 season was honoured with the Golden Compass Award in the “Corporate Responsibility – Sport” category by the Turkish Public Relations Association.
https://www.airportgundem.com/corendon-ve-zicev-is-birligiyle-one-team-antalyada/
