Sport and Social Inclusion: Future for Children.

The present project was implemented from 1/1/2018 to 30/06/2019. FUTURE + aim was to become a European-based project committed to enhancing young people’s health and well-being living in underprivileged districts, via positive experiences in youth sport. The project aimed at defining a common methodology to implement sports-based inclusion interventions to help children uncover their athletic talent, explore personal development, and find academic focus through a tight-knit community of mentors, peers, and athletes.The objective of FUTURE + project was to promote, develop and share an evidence-based coach education programme that can help coaches foster quality motivation and make sport not only engaging, empowering, and enjoyable but also a tool of added value for social inclusion.Our goal was to:❏ Help grassroots coaches understand how they can foster quality motivation in children living in underprivileged districts;❏ Provide coaches with strategies for promoting a more empowering climate and making youth sport a tool of social inclusion.In this sense, the project included the participation of five partners from four countries (Spain, France, Italy and Greece) that we encountered in four different transnational meetings. The area of social inclusion in sports is at the heart of interest in all of the participating partners organisations. They have vast experience in working with social inclusion in sports at national level. From the outset, four objectives were established:Objective 1: To identify the key components of a European-based coach education programme for youth sport in underprivileged districts.Objective 2: To develop a European-based coach education programme for youth sport that will provide a realistic strategy for social inclusion through sport in young people.Objective 3: To distribute evidenced-based principles of good coaching practice and project findings.Objective 4: To bring FUTURE + project findings to the attention of sport organisations, politicians, and other policy makers concerned with youths sport as a tool of social inclusionIn order to undertake this project, the workplan was broken down into work different components of the project to ensure the successful execution of tasks and the production of high-quality results. 1. Work Package 1. Conception of quality procedures and management actions of FUTURE + 2. Work Package 2. Analysis of the current coach programme and the extent to which it is addressing issues of social inclusion. 3. Work Package 3. An online survey conducted in 8 sports clubs within each of the participating countries on how the coach has a role in the sports-based social inclusion intervention. 4. Work Package 4.Analysis of the results of the studies conducted in WP2 and WP3, with the aim to elucidate how the role of the coach and its intervention promotes and inhibits social inclusion. Mapping of good practices and suggestions for a coach education programme. 5. Work Package 5. Communication and Dissemination of findings, best practices and suggestions.The final output was presented in the final conference in Barcelona. In this meeting, the hosting organisation was Club Lluita Olimpica La Mina with the support of Club Gimnastica La Mina. The main focus and need for this meeting was to hold the final conference of the project in the National Sports Centre in Sant Cugat – Barcelona (CAR Sant Cugat) and present to different authorities the FUTURE + Handbook - A tool for promoting social inclusion through sport. The conference was conducted by the coordinator, Juan Carlos Ramos, and it was a project-end event to present the lessons learnt and the best practices analysed during the project.