Sport & Psycho-social Initiative for Inclusive Training

Background The SPIRIT Project is a response to the need to make sporting environments safer, more welcoming and ultimately more inclusive for vulnerable groups such as refugees and asylum seekers. Outdated cultures and coaching continue to affect the experience and inclusion of athletes in grassroots sport. Sport coaching must go beyond promoting physical performance and health to nurture and enhance mental health, strength and fitness. Objectives The projects main objectives were to research and understand the role of sport coaching in mental well-being and then to create a framework of actionable resources that can start to create a shift in the behaviour of coaches, culture of sport clubs and prioritisation of grassroots sport in general to better nurture and promote mental well-being of athletes in grassroots sport, in particular for those who are at risk of poor mental health. Implementation The project conducted a comprehensive systematic literature review and then an exercise of collecting and evaluating current good practices among the partner countries in this area. The project team then translated this knowledge into a set of recommendations for high level stakeholders; a coaching toolkit with a wealth of practical lessons and activities for coaches and an online e-learning course for empowering coaches and sport clubs with the skills and knowledge to build their capacities in Achievements Through national multiplier events and the ‘Sport Coaching for Mental Well-being Conference’ a total of 273 people working in grassroots sport in Europe were familiarised with the project’s findings and tools. Furthermore the online course has concentrated a huge amount of knowledge, both theoretical and practical in an interactive, multi-lingual format and is publicly accessible for free.