Hard work pays off – TeamUp project published on European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science

After 4 years of hard work in the field of social inclusion through sport and physical activities and 2 years of intensive work on project TeamUp!, Health Life Academy has received major recognition for its contribution to the improvement of access to sports and physical activity for PWID.

Training sport coaches for athletes with intellectual disabilities: The TeamUp project has been published in the European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science.

General Secretary Dario Jagić and Project Manager Predrag Marinković have significantly contributed to creation of Training packages for sport coaches of athletes with ID.

European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science is an international peer reviewed publication aimed to investigate the numerous educational aspects regarding physical activity and related area of research. Its main scope is to gather together scientists, scholars, and professionals from various research fields, including education, sport, physical activity, psychology, as well as physiotherapy, health and nutrition in order to deliver support and opportunity for multidisciplinary discussions and widespread comprehension of how physical activity interacts with human life.

The paper presents the Erasmus + TeamUp project which aimed to provide

basic skills and knowledge to sport coaches in order to enable them to work with individuals with intellectual disability (ID) and act as facilitators in their own country and local community transmitting this knowledge and values. The rationale for conducting the program is analyzed and its aims and objectives are described, with emphasis given on all relative educational material developed for application in sport and physical education settings.

one of the main activities of the program was the development of the educational package by the Department of Physical Education and Sport Science, University of Thessaly, aiming to increase knowledge and skills of sport coaches in three different chapters concerning ID, Special Olympics and Paralympic Games, individualized education programming and physical activity adaptations and inclusion strategies for athletes with ID, respectively. Dissemination of this educational package and results of sport coaches’ responses from Greece, Croatia, Romania and Spain to three online questionnaires relative to the three topics created, are also presented and

analyzed. Finally, practical implications and suggestions for further development are discussed.

Published article can be found on the following link.