Play with me – games of the past, sports for today

“Play with me – games of the past, sports for today” was 22 months Small Collaborative Partnerships project developed by 5 partners form 5 different countries (Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Turkey and Greece). The project collected 10 Traditional Sports and Games (two from each partner country) in a digital Handbook and in a Video Catalogue. These sports and games were promoted in local awareness rising activities organised in the partner countries. The partnership brought together key European organisations actively working for promoting the sport's values and contributed to the comunities involving sports experts, sports youth workers, youth, external organisations, individuals, and relevant stakeholders.“Play with me – games of the past, sports for today” promoted the safeguarding of Traditional Sports and Games (TSG) as sports practices and intangible cultural heritage, the key challenge for the future development of sport and societies. Our project also enhanced intercultural dialogue and peace, reinforced youth empowerment and promoted ethical sport practices.In brief, the following activities was implemented:- From the 22nd to the 24th of February 2019, together with several representatives of our partner organisations, we went over the logistical and administrative aspects of the project - such as task deadlines – and settled the specific details of the next activities so as to ensure our project got off to best start!- The training course in July 2019 gathered all partner organisations to present each country’s traditional sports and games among the 10 selected. Sports experts and sport youth workers were in charge of analysing and elaborating the instructions of each game in order to ensure an easy comprehension and thus, make sure everyone fully enjoys them. A matter of equal importance has been discussing and preparing one of this project’s main objectives : the Online Handbook and Video Catalog, that will serve as sources of inspiration for anyone keen on implementing the same Learning through Sport methodology.- Since September 2019 until March 2020, local educational institutions from each of our partners’ countries continued our mission to preserve the 10 traditional games selected for our project by encouraging children to take part in them together, this way, bringing the conventional physical education class to a whole new level of excitement. Thus, we are closer to reaching our goal of promoting these games of intangible cultural heritage to people of all ages and other interested organisations.- Initially, the event had been scheduled in April 2020 but due to the COVID pandemic context, we were forced to postpone it. Despite things not looking brighter over this summer regarding the COVID global tensions, we were fortunate to be able to organise an open time frame event from the 16th to the 19th of August 2020 in Varna, Bulgaria, naturally, ensuring everything shall be carried out according to the COVID requirements.More than 200 tourists at the Varna beach have engaged in the traditional games the representatives of our consortium have refereed, this way creating the ideal environment for intercultural dialogue and exchange of ideas, with the greater aim of promoting peace between our nations. The Closing Conference has also been moved on the online platforms of communication, given that some representatives of our partner organisations were unable to travel due to COVID restrictions. Nonetheless, we managed to go over everything we have achieved and, so, we were able to take in the success of our project, prompting a positive outlook on prospective alike projects.official web page of our project: https://www.educatie.ong/play-with-me-traditional-games-and-sports