Holistic Sport Disciplines for People With Intellectual Disabilitiy

Background The Hospitality project aims to offer people with intellectual disabilities an opportunity to practice sports activities. It is mainly focused on activities of soft gymnastics and relaxation, supported by moments of mindfulness meditation. During the courses, the partners studied the benefits of these activities, published the results and created a good practice manual. Objectives This project has the main objective to encourage and promote participation in sport of people who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Also, to ensure the inclusion of people with disability into the society through sport, by introducing them to new social networks and equipping them with new skills. Moreover, to design and implement a study that will allow to collect data and to strengthen a network of cooperation among the partners participating in the project. Implementation Partners have shared the same approach for the project implementation and running. The following principles, which are the pillars of the methodological approach, have been followed:the general methodology is built around the concepts of integrated, evidence-based and participatory approaches. Indeed, active engagement of partners and social actors is crucial for effective policies. When contents, tools and methods are shared, a sense of collective ownership arises. Achievements After following the path proposed by the Hospitality project, the beneficiaries of each partner’s courses experienced several positive effects. Among them, the most important are a strong psycho-physical improvement, an increase in the level of attention and more inclusiveness in the surrounding world. After the practice, several persons stated that they can always recognize their emotional state. This can be an example of the benefits of sports activity, where people were feeling better.