Basketball for Life Skills
▶Summary
Background Research suggests that sport is a significant factor in the development of adolescents' self esteem, identity, and feelings of competence. Using sport to promote competence in youth has tremendous benefits in their psychological and social development, and even more organised sport, such as basket. The Basketball for Life Skills (BASKI) project provides a training program for basketball coaches and sports educators on how to promote basketball among kids as a medium of life skills development. Objectives BASKI aims to introduce basketball as a sport, and at the same time encourage young people by setting the right foundations for a lifelong sports involvement, which in parallel develops their major life skills related to collaboration, critical thinking, empathy, leadership, decision-making, and planning, which empowers their active social participation and contribution. Additionally, BASKI aims to educate stakeholders involved in children’s physical education, thus supporting their development. Implementation The BASKI project was implemented in Cyprus, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, North Macedonia, and Romania through a series of actions undertaken by the project partners. The main milestones included conducting research to collect best practices in the field of basketball education, developing e-learning material to train basketball coaches and sports educators and a related policy guide, and organising events to present the project's results and practically engage coaches, kids, and youth under 18. Achievements The results of the project aimed to provide basketball coaches, sports educators, and stakeholders involved in children's physical education with various tools to pedagogically integrate basketball as a sport for the psychological and social development of kids and youth under 18. These results include: (1) the BASKI Coach the Coach Curriculum and Open Resource Toolbox, (2) the BASKI Interactive Online Learning Environment and Mobile app, and (3) the BASKI Training and Policy Adaptation Guide.