This project wants to increase social inclusion and equal opportunities to access sports and physical activity on the city level. The aim is also to create more equal opportunities to move by rethinking the way to do physical activity which enable everyone to have the capabilities and knowledge needed to take care of their physical wellbeing.
Cities have various kinds of services and tools to lower the threshold for youth to be more active, but are also in need of new services and approaches toward physical activity to reach all children especially those who do not have access to sports due to example financial, social och physical disability. The services provided by the cities are not enough and that is why the project includes Sports confederation and sport clubs.
The project consortium consists of five organisations which are the cities of Jyväskylä, Tartu and Umeå. The two other parts are RF/ Sisu Västerbotten and Jyväskylä basketball academy. The three cities are approximately the same size (medium-sized cities) and from similarly structured societies, the practices and solutions are easily transmitted and piloted in other participating cities.
ERASMUS+, small collaborative partnerships
The project believes that our holistic and active approach on physical activity in early stages of life can lead us to the right direction.
The theoretical framework is a good place to start when developing both the services of the cities and the way we coach sports. The philosophy of physical literacy act as a model to which we can compare and evaluate our actions, operational programmes, as well as our built environments. The physical literacy sets a global context which we can use as a tool to examine and evaluate our sometimes quite differently organised societies European wide.
The concrete steps include three concrete approaches:
Prior each meeting, the partners will discuss the theme in their own organization and prepare to share their results to the whole project group. The aim of the meetings is to create guidelines towards a more physically literary city.
After each meeting, there will be feedback and evaluation.
The first meeting was a kick-off meeting for the whole project. The aim was to gather the project personnel from each participating organisation in order to go through the schedule, financial aspects, tasks, aims and objectives, as well as any practical information or concerns relating to the project such as ways for communication. Since all key members of the project have not met each other before, the meeting was also about networking and getting to know one another to guarantee swift communication and cooperation throughout the project.
Day 1:
Arrival
Day 2:
Visit to the university and Hippos hosted by Eeva Simula, Sport services
Visit to Huhtasuo school hosted by Maria Typpö, hobby recess instructor
Visit to Keski-Palokka school, physical active learning lesson
Visit JBA’s elite team’s practise
Work with project revising the project objectives and execution.
Day 2
Work with project confirming the dates of the study visits, discussing the practical issues such as internal communication, setting the dates for monthly conference calls between the core group and deciding on online project tools and platforms.
Visit Rally
Visit to Smart Kangas hosted by Mika Katakko
Day 3
Departure
Monica Svonni
enhetschef, Föreningsbyrån/stab, Fritid
090-16 34 88 070-445 34 12 monica.svonni@umea.se