Sport plays an important role in our societies. The diverse educational practices of sport, can be efficient to convey values of solidarity, diversity, inclusiveness and cultural awareness. It has a specific place in our societies combining a healthy physical activity with social and cultural heritage and diversity. Sport can be a very powerful tool for education and inclusion when working with young people because it can be very motivating and interesting. It can create a bridge between different social groups and better mutual comprehension and dialogue. The use of the martial arts explores various new possibilities of Sport as a tool for education and inclusion. In the Bulgaria as well as in other Balkan countries, persons with disabilities and those from other disadvantaged groups are generally excluded from education, employment and community life from a young age. Exclusion deprives them of opportunities to engage and develop relationships with others —opportunities essential to their social development and important determinants of health and well-being. The martial arts as concrete sport activity are well suited to helping disadvantaged young people to acquire social skills they may be lacking. It teaches them how to communicate effectively as well as the significance of teamwork and cooperation, goal-setting, self-discipline, respect for others, and the importance of rules. Martial arts also enable disadvantaged students to take risks and learn how to manage failure and success in a safe and supportive environment. Coaches and teammates provide important role models and can help young people to develop skills they can apply in other aspects of their lives, such as employment. The benefits of physical activity are universal for all children, including those with disabilities. The participation of disadvantaged students in sports and recreational activities promotes inclusion, minimizes deconditioning, optimizes physical functioning, and enhances overall well-being. The project has as main objective to train sports teachers in schools in remote/rural areas as well as those that have a lot of socially disadvantaged pupils to introduce Martial Arts to stimulate the inclusion of socially disadvantaged youth, regardless of age, race, gender or ability, and have Martial Arts become a lever to strengthen self confidence, control violence and strengthen community aspects. There is no reason why Martial Arts can’t be practiced by everyone with, if necessary, the right adaptation to the individual. The project is proposing a range of innovative techniques to stimulate and facilitate the uptake of inclusive martial arts sport trainings, using a mobile and online training and community platform. The main outputs of the project will be: IO1 Case studies (audio, video, text) IO2 MAINCLUSION curriculum and "Train the trainers" handbook IO3 (Online/Mobile) course/training material IO4 Online peer support and training portal platform IO5 Set of interactive training videos IO6 Mobile training app with individual learning path The partner team will also: - Organize pilots with schools in Plovdiv (BG), Malatia (TR), Athens (EL) - Provide 3 joint staff training events to be organised with sports school teachers from Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, among these countries. The partnership comprises organisations from 4 countries (Bulgaria, Belgium, Greece and Turkey) and includes: - P1 Non-governmental organisation providing trainings to youth - BG - P2 Martial Art Sport Club - BG - P3 Secondary school - BG - P4 Martial Art Association - BG - P5 Inclusion oriented NGO - BE - P6 Inclusion oriented SME - BE - P7 Inclusion oriented NGO - EL - P8 Higher education institution on sport teaching - TR - P9 Martial Art Training Provider - EL
In recent years martial arts has become more open to the general public. Also disadvantaged people and people with disabilities are now also involved in the martial arts (MA) trainings. This new situation however identified that the teachers and trainers are unprepared to respond to the specific needs of (disadvantaged) students (with disabilities) who want to join MA classes. MAINCLUSION project was designed to equip sport teachers and trainers with the necessary knowledge and skills to teach martial arts within the evolving system of inclusive education and inclusive sports. Sport in general can be a very powerful tool for education and inclusion when working with young people because it can be very motivating and engaging. In Bulgaria as well as in other Balkan countries and Turkey, people with disabilities and those from other disadvantaged groups have limited access to the mainstream education, employment and community life from a young age. This social isolation deprives them of opportunities to develop relationships with others —opportunities essential to their social development and important determinants of health and well-being. The martial arts as concrete sport activity are well suited to helping disadvantaged young people acquire social skills they may be lacking. It teaches them how to communicate effectively as well as the significance of teamwork and cooperation, goal-setting, self-discipline, respect for others, and the importance of rules. The MAINCLUSION project had as main objective to train sports teachers in mainstream schools including those from remote/rural areas to introduce Martial Arts to socially disadvantaged youth, regardless of age, race, gender or ability. The project introduced a range of innovative techniques to stimulate and facilitate the uptake of inclusive martial arts sport trainings, using a mobile and online training platform. The main outputs delivered by MAINCLUSION project are: IO1 Case studies IO2 MAINCLUSION curriculum and "Train the trainers" handbook IO3 (Online/Mobile) course/training material IO4 Online peer support and training portal platform IO5 Set of interactive training videos IO6 Mobile training app with individual learning path These IOs were developed as a result of a cooperation among project partners and were actively promoted over the project to a large number of stakeholders – more than 50 000 in Bulgaria, Belgium, Greece and Turkey as well as on EU level. Starting December 2018 all outcomes were tested by physical activity teachers and sport trainers in all partners countries and the results from pilot testing explicitly confirmed that the training modules, videos and other interactive materials are useful and support the inclusion of people with disabilities in martial art classes. For more information see the country pilot reports uploaded onto Dropbox Within the project's 3 joint staff training events were organised in Malatya – Turkey, Sofia - Bulgaria, and Athens Greece. The workshops within the visits were led by sports school teachers, martial art trainers including those with disabilities as well as representatives of sport NGOs oriented to young people with disabilities. The project has been realised by 7 organisations from 4 countries (Bulgaria, Belgium, Greece and Turkey) and includes: - P1 Marie Curie Association – MCA as Non-governmental organisation providing trainings to youth - BG - P2 Yamato Sport Club as Martial Art Sport Club - BG - P3 “Paisii Hilendarski” as Secondary public school - BG - P4 European WingTsun Organisation as Martial Art Association - BG - P6 PHOENIXKM BVBA as Inclusion oriented SME - BE - P7 PENTHESILEIA Inclusion oriented NGO - EL - P8 INONU UNIVERSITY Higher education institution on sport teaching - TR To promote and mainstream the 6 IOs, partners implemented 3 Multiplier Events in Belgium (Ypres), Greece (Athens) and Bulgaria (Sofia). They were attended by more than 220 stakeholders who expressed interest to use the MAINCLUSION results in their daily work. Additionally partners from “Paisii Hilendarski“ school and EWTO implemented more than 30 workshops where inclusive martial arts techniques were demonstrated to students with and without disabilities. Some of these workshops were recorded (video) and were used as internal training materials for physical activity teachers working in the public schools or MA clubs. These workshops were an unanticipated benefit both for students and teachers as they demonstrated the power of martial arts as an effective tool towards inclusion.