TC - Sports Activities

KA1: Mobility of Youthworkers

Training Course

"Sports Activities: The Path to Social Inclusion"

ΚΑ1_2017-2-CY02-KA105-001036

27th April - 5th May

Larnaca (CY)

The project "Sports Activities: The path to Social Inclusion '' aims to support 26 youthworkers from partner organizations (Cyprus, Bulgaria, Italy, Greece, Spain, Latvia, Malta, Romania) and inspire the wider lifelong learning community on how to improve social inclusion practices through education through sport. All partners intend to identify and show the power of E + trainings through a TC week of NFL activities (using sports as a tool). In other words, during this TC they aim to enhance and enrich the repertoire of inclusive practices of their youth workers when they work in the ongoing changing society they live in. Therefore, by the end of the project there will be an increased impact on the improvement of basic key competences for youth workers and increased awareness on how social inclusion can be supported through sports. The project week will be based mainly on sports activities and Education through Sport practice using NFL, but also activities with refugees in Asylum Camp of Kofinou.

The objectives of the project / TC are:

1. To increase awareness in youthworkers on how NFL can support the active and joyful involvement into sports

2. To train youth workers to develop inclusive practices through sports activities, for supporting effectively marginalized groups (refugees, migrants, socially excluded);

3.To increase awareness on and suggest the method of education through sports (to all pax / yw) as a practice that supports wellbeing (in short term) and social inclusion and solidarity (in long term);

4. To support youth workers in the acquisition of key competences with a view to improving their personal development

5. To bridge and acknowledge cultural differences between partner countries and participants;

6. To create long term partnerships for future collaboration in the youthfield for projects on sports as a tool for social inclusion.

Reflection by Giovanni Palazzo

Giovanni Palazzo, participant from Formia, Italy
This was my first experience in a training course and it was more interesting and more amazing than I expected! I arrived in Larnaca at 26-April-2018 and at the beginning I had a little bit problems with the language because I didn't use it by two years but with the time I found my old English. I shared this fantastic experience with participants from Spain, Greece, Latvia, Bulgaria, Malta, Romania, Cyprus and of course Italy. The first day was amazing: name game and team building that let me know the other participants and made friends with them. There were a lot of people that I will never forget! Thanks to this project I learned so many things about the sport and the role of inclusion in the society, now I see the sport in a different way, the sport Is also education and the competition is not necessary for us, sport unites people. Attraverso sport you can share your fears your responsibility and also your cultures! In a world café we discussed about the stories and the problems that there are in our society for example the story of the African league in Vienna and the role of the law and the international relationship took my attention a lot thinking what I want to be in my future, because I'm studying law and I want to be an international lawyer! Furthermore the visit to the refugees was one of the strongest experience in my life, for me it wasn't important their stories but their situation now, they escaped from a bad reality so far from ours and I cannot immagine their suffering! One of the most important moment at the refugees was the smile of one child, Mohammed from Nigeria he smiled all the time although he 's suffering now! All the activities and all the games were very cool and it made me happy to have experienced this. I want to thank my trainers Renos and Sandra for teaching me to think in a different way and all the participants, without them this experience wouldn't be so special.

Reflection by Lisa Supino

I liked very much this training because the topic was not just about sports, but, in particular, about the education and social inclusion through sport. I think that we were very lucky to have in the group such a nice guy from Greek team, Chris, which is visually impaired, and for that reason he reminded us every moment that we could do sports even with a larger target of people and having fun even much more than normally, because you can feel how he feels or, at list, you can imagine a little part of it.

About the activities that we did in these days, I liked very much the one with different shapes of paper: I really liked it because at the beginning of the exercise I thought I was not understanding how to do it, but at the end I understood that the way we grew brought us to think in different ways in the society, and maybe these ways are wrong. Personally I took the rectangular shape and, to choose and create my group, the first thing that I did was looking for other rectangular shapes, but only after the end of the game I realized that in the real life it shouldn't go like that : I could join a different shape from mine, not only rectangulars.

Another activity that I consider very useful is the “butterfly game”; well, maybe it's just a game, but it was perfect to let everyone playing it, but mostly because I could understand for few seconds what means enjoy the games even if you can't see. I liked it very much because we were all at the same level.

Another thing that I learned, most of all, is the difference between "Education BY sport, FOR sport and THROUGH sport": sometimes we forget the real meaning of the sport, without competition, without winners or losers, just having fun and enjoying the sports with the rest of the group.

The experience at the refugees camp was very revealing for me, because there were so many people that actually escaped from different hard situations in their countries, but it was so touching to see the kids still smiling and playing with us; and also the adults, that at the beginning were a bit wary of us, after some time we were there, we started to have a short conversation, that for me is already a lot. It was a very nice and useful experience that made me more aware about refugees conditions.

Reflection by Olga Cosentino

I consider myself as a very socially oriented person. I can say I am aware of the existing problems around me but this training course opened my eyes even more and furthered my knowledge about social inclusion.
During this training course all the activities helped me to understand what social inclusion means. I think it's a very important aspect for our society.

Factor X was one of the most important things for me, personally. I learned that there are different aspects of social inclusion besides culture.
For me the most important aspect is Education trough sport which promotes with the game the social inclusion of people with disadvantage, physical, social psychic, that of sportsmen at the end of their career, that of particular contexts subject to limitations, such as prison, or discrimination, such as areas to other immigration, areas where sport can make the difference.
indeed, a truly significant experience was that of refuge. Seeing a reality so different from ours made me more aware. I learned that just through sport we can unite cultures that are completely different from ours.
I think that more people should visit such places and inform themselves of the truth.
because all the bad things that we feel about them are not true, they deserve to have another chance, because they are people like us, but they have a completely different experience.
Another important aspect of this activity is the cultural exchange that you have with the other participants, through various activities such as worl cafè, creation of new games and cultural evening, I learned the different points of view of everyone and above all to listen to their ideas without discrimination. On this aspect I changed a lot and above all I found people so different from me, but at the same time fantastic.
I'm really lucky to have taken part of this experience, I hope to do other things to learn and grow.