4BallGames Teenage Sport Games

Background There is a worldwide trend towards less total daily physical activity, especially in teenage population where recent figures from member States of the European Union (EU) indicate that six in every 10 people above 15 years of age never or seldom exercise or play a sport and more than half never or seldom engage in other kinds of physical activity. According to statistics, number of Teenagers who are regularly physically active sharply decline when they reach adolescence age of 14-16. Objectives Objectives of the project were to organize activities to motivate teenagers to play sports and engage in physical activity in general, especially girls who are the most vulnerable group among teenagers, as data shows that their physical activity sharply decline when they reach adolescence age of 14-16. Implementation To motivate girls to participate in sports in greater number, we have decided to organize mixed teams of 9 (5 girls and 4 boys) who will compete in 4 games primarily played by girls (Netball, Catchball, Korfball, Dodgeball). Rules of the games were very simple, so very little or no previous experience was needed for everyone to join the activities. All sports were suitable to be played in mixed teams as none of the sports were "contact" sports where "strength" of the boys can play a role. Achievements During the difficult times of COVID-19 pandemic we managed to organize various sports activities for more than 500 students who participated in our project activities. Since the four sports were novel to the students and easy to learn, girls, who normally were not fond of sports and physical activity were joining and participating in project activities more readily.