Walking you learn: outdoor sports for skills development

The project partners located in Italy Piemonte, Spain Galizia, Latvia Priekuli and Estonia Valga, organised sport outdoor programs that associate sport activities with social, recreational, developmental and educational aims. The outdoor activities developed were long distance group walking and skiing able to have an impact particularly on non formal competences (as a more positive self-concept and increased self-esteem, improved cognitive autonomy, increased group cohesion, mental health as a state of subjective well-being, autonomy as well as psychological resilience in terms of stress and adversity and reduced school truancy). The activities have been organised also to have an impact on formal competences as: practical knowledge of geography, local history, natural heritage, science, biology, astronomy, and self-orientation.Beacause the Covid pandemic the project partner had the occasion to organise in presence only: 1. the first partners meeting in Italy (29 March - 1 April 2019) with a sample of sports to be organised in this country at the end of the project (activity never implemented because the Covid).2. the sport activities in Galizia Spain on the Santiago trail (October 13 - 18, 2019).3. the sport activities in Latvia and Estonia (February 24 - 27, 2020), outdoor activities and long trails in the snow.The activities were strongly connected with the partners geographical natural and historical environment and focused on walking, backpacking, hiking, skiing and wilderness navigation techniques. They were also connected with the local natural, environmental and cultural considered heritage: the Alps mountain contest in Italy, the wonderful forests and woods full of snow in Latvia and Estonia, the famous historical and natural heritage of the Santiago Trail in Spain.The group involved included young people aged 12-17 that had the opportunity to experiment the activities planned in the project giving also several positive feedback of their experience. The project started with great enthusiasm and from the beginning the activities have seen a great participation. We have managed to organize the first three events in a very positive way. Than the other envisaged activities and specially the final one in Italy had to face the Covid pandemic and have been stopped. We asked for a prolongation but with no possibility to travel the activities by distance were really difficult and with little sense. We can confirm that the activities carried out have demonstrated the success of our idea and our initiative. We will probably resume the project at the territorial and partnership level as soon as the pandemic is over.