The European strategy for disabilities 2010-2020 has clearly stated the importance of creating a Europe without barriers that will facilitate the improvement of the social and economic conditions of people with disabilities. The progress report (2017) on the implementation of the European Disability Strategy highlighted positive results for the participation of people with disabilities in sports and physical activities. According to this report, having a disability or illness is the third most common motivation (14%) for not practicing sports and physical activities. Physical barriers, physical conditions, but also prejudices often pose obstacles to the career of people with disabilities who want to be a sportsman or coach. Social inclusion is a top priority at EU level and inspired the 2010-2020 Disability Strategy, which inspired the realization of this project. To this end, we have set up a partnership consisting of 5 entities with complementary environments, with the aim of increasing the impact at transnational level and covering a large area in Europe. Our project intends to support people with disabilities and to facilitate their inclusion in the field of sports and physical activity by introducing a model of competencies for a new a qualification that of the “Mental Instructor for Athletes with Disabilities”. The perspective of a mental trainer for athletes with disabilities offers a new perspective designed for these people:
- offers new specialized techniques for increasing motivation for sports and physical activity
- offers a new position for people with disabilities who want to start a coaching career or a dual career for disabled athletes
- is a model that can be easily transferred within the work-based activity (eg corporate wellness activities, etc.)
The objectives of our project can be summarized as follows:
- Increased awareness on the inclusion of people with disabilities in the field of sport
- Developing a methodology to strengthen the degree of employment and inclusion in the field of sport and physical activities
- The acquisition of new skills in a new qualification, that of mental trainer for athletes with disabilities
- Improving the performance of athletes with disabilities and increasing self-esteem
These objectives will be achieved by producing 4 intellectual outputs translated into 4 languages (EN, RO, IT, GR) summarized as follows:
- The competency model “Mental Trainer for Athletes with Disabilities” is a complete description of educational competencies and requirements to acquire new skills in a new qualification, that of mental trainer for athletes with disabilities.
- The practical guide ” A Mental Trainer to Empower Your Super Ability ” contains detailed descriptions of the mental training techniques adapted to people with disabilities. It is pecially designed to improve the performance of athletes with disabilities and increase self-esteem.
- The video course ” A Mental Trainer to Empower Your Super Ability ” is a course that contains a series of video lessons based on the competency model proposed by the partnership.
- Electronic platform. The platform will offer both the target group and the indirect beneficiaries the opportunity to benefit from: intellectual outputs and other updated materials related to the project theme. The platform will be completely open and all materials can be downloaded for free, to facilitate their exploitation.
The main target groups of this project are:
Primary target groups: coaches with priority for people with disabilities, athletes with disabilities, athletes. By participating in the exploitation of these outputs they will acquire new skills and qualifications in the field of mental training of athletes with disabilities and people with disabilities.
Secondary target groups: psychologists, educators, support staff for people with disabilities in the field of gymnastics and sport. Their participation in the exploitation of the intellectual products of the project is designed to inspire new specific practices for people with disabilities who want to increase their physical activities. Social inclusion is a top priority at EU level and inspired the 2010-2020 Disability Strategy, which inspired the realization of this project. To this end, we have set up a partnership consisting of 5 entities with complementary environments, with the aim of increasing the impact at transnational level and covering a large area in Europe.
Transnationality is needed for several reasons:
- The intellectual product (O1) aims to create a model of competences and that can be easily accessed and exploited by all EU countries.
- the results will be translated into English, making it easier to access the results of interested persons from all over Europe
- the differences between countries can give the partners a complete overview of the strengths and weaknesses, similarities and differences of the systems related to the support for disabilities in sports.