PPSS - Progression Pathways in Social Sports

In 2020, an estimated 96.5 million people in the EU were at risk of poverty or social exclusion. This is over one-fifth (21.9%) of the total population (Eurostat, 2021). This group often has insufficient opportunities to participate in sport and in society, does not always receive adequate support or the training opportunities to develop the competences. In short, there is a ‘poverty trap’ that means that social exclusion persists unnecessarily long. The conviction of Life Goals and partners is that sport and education can make the difference for these vulnerable target groups. Our ambition is to use grassroots sports to improve social inclusion and active citizenship of vulnerable groups. Sport can be the spark that provides new energy and self-confidence. The Life Goals methodology is the key to success in all our programmes. Not only in the sporting field, but also on a social level. Move to inspire, inspire to move! With the PPSS project we want to inspire this target group by offering them the prospect of a positive future, a future with perspective! Learning Progression Pathways in Social Sports is our new initiative that takes the next step towards making Europe more inclusive. A better place to live, exercise and work. In a two-year program we educate socially vulnerable people to become a social sport coach. We learn teachers and coaches how to create 'progression pathways' for socially vulnerable people. Participants learn how to divide responsibilities among participants so that they actually develop through volunteer work and take on a more active role within society. In short, the pathway we developed consists of five steps. People with social disadvantages go through the following steps: 1. Participation in sports 2. Training Like Skills 3. Education to become a social sports coach (PPSS Training) 4. Internship during sporting events 5. Structural embedding within local programs to start new sports activities