Drawing Sports Experiences from Children in Conflict with the Law

Children in Conflict with the Law or CICL refer to children that committed crimes below 17 years of age. Republic Act 9344 posits that once these children committed crimes they are sent for rehabilitation. Using the interpretative phenomenological analysis this research attempts to map out the lived experiences of the CICL specifically on sports involvement in a rehabilitation center. Moreover the research also attempts to describe the sense of meaning experienced by CICL in their sports involvement. Four superordinate themes were drawn: Experiencing Connectedness with family members Experiencing Anticipation and Integration within the new Community through Basketball Experiencing Internal Conflict and Self-Affirmation and Sporting Experiences are ways/means in reconstructing and improving the self. Results also revealed sports experiences can help the CICL to connect with their family integrate with their peers and to reconstruct and improve the self.