On June 20, 2020, coinciding with World Refugee Day, CEIPES organized a sport event, Trekking in Monte Pellegrino, as part of the Sport Project PAIS – Promoting Active Inclusion of Disadvantaged Persons Excluded from the regular participation into grassroots sports. Together with some members of the CEIPES staff, some of the guests of the reception center “Associazione Asante Onlus” were invited to participate in the event, obviously in compliance with the numbers allowed by the latest Covid-19 regulations.
AGENDA:
• H 4.00 PM MEETING POINT AT “ASANTE ONLUS ASSOCIATION” AND MOVEMENT BY TAXI (TAXI SERVICE PROVIDED BY CEIPES) UP TO TREKKING STARTING POINT
• H 4.30 PM START TREKKING TO MONTE PELLEGRINO
• H 6.00 PM ARRIVAL AND STOP. PRESENTATION OF THE PAIS PROJECT AND DISCUSSION ABOUT SPORT AS AN INCLUSION TOOL.
• H 7.30 PM RETURN UP TO STARTING POINT AND THEN UP TO “ASSANTE ASSOCIATION ONLUS”
The event was a great opportunity to meet and get to know the participants, practicing outdoor sports and exchanging opinions on sports and inclusion. The theme of sport was discussed as an opportunity for meeting and inclusion and the PAIS project, which aims to increase the participation of people in situations of social disadvantage by improving their inclusion in grassroots sports, was presented. Trekking has proved to be an excellent mean for this goal as it does not require special skills or equipment, it is also accessible to those who do not practice sport assiduously and allow knowledge and an exchange of opinions that would not be possible in other sporting occasions.
The experience also served to communicate the importance of sports to the participants and to demonstrate that for some types of sports there are no major obstacles that prevent them from practicing.
The intent of the experience was to promote improvements in the provision of sports activities for people with social disadvantages, raising public awareness and developing effective partnerships to produce tangible results. In fact, the dialogue with participants has opened up several ideas for closer collaboration with the Associazione Asante Onlus, especially in the field of sports activities which will clearly aim to lead the target group to active participation in grassroots sports. In fact, the participants were asked what they thought of the project theme and what activities they thought could be most useful in achieving the objectives, and everyone made themselves available to participate in future events.
Certainly the skills and abilities of us operators in organizing activities to work closely with the target group have been significantly strengthened thanks also to the participation of the Chief Scout Serena Butticè, who was able to offer her experience in the field of outdoor sports and the role of sport in social activity by providing interesting ideas for future sporting activities.
This event will serve, also through dissemination activities, to raise awareness among stakeholders and the public on the need for everyone to be included in sport in order to eliminate the prejudices and barriers that prevent target groups from participating in grassroots sport.
The event was the demonstration that sport is for everyone taking into account the existing possibilities and the activities that can be organized.
