NEIGE POUR TOUS AVEC B.A.S.S. ET TROTTI-SKI

The ideation of the B.A.S.S. (Borney Adapted Snowboard System), an aid that allows snowboarding people with mental and even physical disabilities, has opened up a new opportunity to approach the snow, complementary and synergistic with Trotti-Ski (now renamed Go to ski), the analogous aid that allows the practice of the alpine ski in erected station.The Regional College of ski instructors of Aosta Valley, in 2010 thanks to the realization of this aid, was the first in Italy to carry out a specialization course aimed at snowboard instructors to teach people with disabilities and now it is used in almost all Italian ski schools. However, these two aids still encounter difficulties in spreading throughout the Alps due to the high skills and therefore the training requirements they require and the purchase costs, which are difficult to pay for in a ski school.The project, through specialization courses address to ski and snowboard instructors and the making available of aids for the organizations involved (a BASS and a Trotti-ski), has set itself the goal of spreading this new opportunity to approach sports also in Europe.The first design phase involved the definition of a standard training protocol, and the preparation of the training contents, which led to the creation of a methodological and didactic manual created in digital form, in an Italian version and an English version.The project also represented an opportunity to address a new approach to psychology, from the perspective of the teacher rather than that of the person with a disability, particularly appreciated by the partners. It is, in fact, very rare that the training courses shift the focus also on the sports technician, on his motivations, insecurities and concerns; on providing concrete tools on how to manage emotions and problem situations that can happen on the track.The second phase of the project concerned its promotion in the territories and the identification of the students followed by the activation of the training courses, scheduled combining the different organizational needs of the partners. The project launch meeting took place from 22nd to 25th January 2018 in Courmayeur Mont Blanc, then the one in La Molina (Spain) took place from 10th to 13rd December 2018, from 18th to 20th December 2018 in Sofia (Bulgaria), from 25th to 27th of March 2019 in La Plagne (France), from 10th to 12th April Mszana Dolna (Poland). The closing meeting with the return of the results obtained took place in Courmayeur Mont Blanc (Italy) from 22nd to 23rd May 2019.The profile of the students was very different in the countries involved, from people with a lot of experience in disability, to people without any experience. For this reason, the training program has been adapted to the individual contexts according to the feedback received, but this has allowed, however, to re-set some contents of the training manual, now available to the partners in its final version.The planned actions took place regularly, apart from a major problem for the event in Poland. In fact, the partner association, Label Animation, which was supposed to take care of the realization of the meeting, could no longer rely on its contacts on the territory. However, it was possible to identify a new local partner, the training organization SZKOŁA GÓRSKA which supported Label Animation allowing in that way the success of the meeting.The objectives of the project have been achieved and the territories involved are now in a position to start teaching with these new aids and to disseminate their use. However, a further perspective issued in the final meeting, which is to develop new projects, considering the strong therapeutic value of B.A.S.S. and Trotti-ski, with the possibility of deepening this aspect with new research, also eventually through a new Erasmus + Sport.