MIXed Ability Rugby

The MIXAR project has been developed with a cohesive spirit, also thanks to the implementation and communication strategy implemented (IO1), to make sure the aims and objectives of the project were met and monitored (IO3). The first year of the project was focused on transferring the Mixed Ability Model (MA) developed by IMAS and sharing the best practices among partners, whereas the second year was focused on the dissemination of the model and the systematization of the research carried out during the project..The 2nd and 3rd transnational meetings (Bradford, April 2018 and Cork, November 2018) provided the opportunity to train coaches and stakeholders to MA, including disabled trainers with lived experience in co-producing and co-delivering the workshops, highlighting success stories, realistic role models and the importance of peer-education. More than 40 participants attended the training events, with practical sessions hosted by grassroots rugby club in Halifax (UK) and Cork (Ireland). The objective was to create a common understanding about inclusion, barriers faced, respect for players’ self-determination as well as rights. The social model of disability (UPIAS, 1975; M. Oliver, 1990) and the quality of life framework, as a comprehensive concepts (specifically, the quality of life model developed by Robert L. Schalock and Miguel A. Verdugo) are accepted by all partners.Following the meeting in Bradford, partners completed the IO4 (translation of IMAS MA Guide in Italian, Spanish and Flemish, plus a set-up of Irish version that help clubs to implement the Model in their context with different strategies). The variety of approaches is also described in the IO6 (Knowledge Workshop Report). Those outputs set the foundations to implement the newly revised edition of the MA Guide (IO7) and later the Transferability Toolkit (IO12) as the essential tools to start a MA team.The activities were also supported by an evaluation strategy led by INICO of the University of Salamanca, who proposed a model of evaluation (IO 3) based on a “metaplan”, aimed to identify, in a participatory and co-produced way, the core element of MA, which will inform the investigation moving forward (IO10), a related Academic Paper (IO 11) and a stakeholders analysis aimed to research the outcomes of Mixed Ability Model to observe the connection between sports, disability and work (IO 8).During the course of the project communication and dissemination were implemented through a shared account on Facebook, the publication of 4 MIXAR Magazines (IO5), and 10 multiplier sport events, that helped to reach a wider audience and other collateral events. Partners also implemented their social media accounts and website in order to better disseminate the activities.The project has attracted new clubs, coaches and National Governing Bodies to Mixed Ability, and participants who were previously inactive or excluded from community sport had their wellbeing increased, resilience boosted, and acquired new life skills, self-confidence. Moreover, the project is promoting a new attitude to diversity and disability, as well evidenced by the shift at a policy level occurred within the IRFU and other sports approaching IMAS to test the MA model.