European Youth Training Academy: all roads lead to Rome!

From 4 to 6 October, Uisp hosted 14 young people with an average age of 22 from Finland, Ireland, Germany, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Netherlands, Austria, Italy and Portugal, who came to Rome to take part in the European Youth Training Academy.

This training activity is an important part of the European project SPIN Youth (Empower Diverse Youth - Build Up Youth Participation and Inclusion in Sport Organisations), supported by the European programme Erasmus+ Sport and coordinated by VIDC Austria, in which Uisp is a partner together with six other organisations from as many European countries.

The days of work were extremely intense and took place at the Fulvio Bernardini sports centre in Rome and, thanks to the cooperation between Uisp, Camino (Germany), Huis voor Beweging (Netherlands) and the Irish Football Federation, the participants were able to acquire valuable knowledge on leadership, conflict management and cooperation in various group contexts.

"The SPIN Youth project is based on the principle of ‘co-creation’ - explains Stefan Belabed, Spin Youth project coordinator - i.e. the joint development of innovative ideas towards a more inclusive and non-discriminatory sports culture". The 14 Youth Coordinators who participated in the European Youth Training Academy left Rome motivated and well-equipped with skills to foster the participation of youth with diverse backgrounds in their respective countries. With the support of gender-mixed youth panels and guidance of experienced project partners, together we can bring down barriers and have a lasting impact in sport inclusion’.

The proposed training was a mix of role-plays aimed at strengthening leadership and group management skills and simulations on how to carry out an action research, the young people got fully involved together with representatives of the various partners. A total of 31 people took advantage of the spaces offered by the sports facility managed by Uisp Roma, and were also able to experience two sessions led by Manolo Cattari, psychotherapist and Uisp Sassari trainer, who worked on fears of loss of control, space and attachment concepts through specific games, such as blindfolded football.

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In fact, this activity was also intended to be an in-depth study on the theme of disability: "These days of work were a success above all in terms of inter-organisational collaboration", says Daniela Conti, project coordinator for Uisp. ‘It is never easy to integrate ways of working and methods of transmitting knowledge between different people, even more so when they use different languages. There was a lot of preparation work that paid off: the training turned out to be consistent throughout and extremely attractive to the young people. Personally, it was an experience that once again taught me the importance and beauty of diversity, provided me with new tools and ideas, and above all reminded me that in order to welcome the other, one must always take a step back. The group work of the young people was also very inspiring for those who, like us, have been working in this field for years: topics such as attention to environmental protection, language barriers, and the need for greater involvement of women were widely emphasised by all and gave rise to interesting debates'.

"In Rome, we discovered not only the welcoming and inclusive spirit of Uisp, but also the potential of SPIN Youth in addressing a target group that has the potential to make a real change for the next generation", adds João Oliveira, secretary general of the Portuguese Professional Football Players’ Union. "Our coordinators will remember this fantastic transformational experience for the rest of their lives".

Over the next 12 months, the young participants, in their respective countries of residence, will form Youth Panels to develop ideas aimed at improving the participation in sport of young people aged between 17 and 27 from different backgrounds (migration, refugees, ethnic minorities). They will also work to elaborate their own action plans and implement them in pilot events during the European Week of Sport 2025. Uisp is looking for young people with these characteristics in order to include them in the working group that is being created, to apply click here.

(Daniela Conti, Head of Interculturality and Cooperation Policies)