Game Reporter

This application takes street sports to the next level for disadvantaged youth In 2018, the Youth-Led Street Sport for All project was initiated with co-funding from the Erasmus+ Sport Programme of the European Union. The purpose of this project is to increase participation in sports, strengthen social inclusion and promote voluntary activity. Five organizations came together to create a product that could provide free resources to individuals and organizations around the world that seek to provide accessible and quality sports activities for young people. These five organizations are ARSIS – The Association for the Social Support of Youth, in Greece; CESIE, The European Centre of Studies and Initiatives, in Italy; Integracijos Centras, in Lithuania; MOVE, in Malta; and GAME, in Denmark. These five organizations have developed a framework to address the lack of opportunities for disadvantaged children and youth by employing street sports as a vehicle for social inclusion and cohesiveness. Street sports is increasingly acknowledged by both researchers and policymakers as an important supplement to traditional team and membership-based sports. Street sports is highly accessible as it can be practiced in local playgrounds, schoolyards, parks and urban spaces. Especially in underserved neighborhoods, street sports is an attractive alternative because it can be practiced locally with no transport and no participation costs. Furthermore, street sport is closely related to youth culture and promotes local engagement and agency among participants. The Youth-Led Street Sport for All project takes street sport to the next level by enhancing the inclusive aspects of it – we include voluntary action, leadership training and the values of gender equality, democracy and tolerance in the project. The ambition of the project is that young people in Europe and beyond use street sport to take a bold step towards a better and more active future integrated societies. About the App The App was developed to allow quick, easy, and free access to an electronic ‘toolbox’ of drills in street basketball, street football, street dance, street fit, parkour and ‘energizers’. Without logging in, the user can browse read about these sports, browse the difference exercises we have compiled, search for specific sports of life skills (‘teamwork’ or ‘self-awareness’) that they would like to use, and compile their favorite exercises into a practice session. The user can also search different activities that one of these five (or other) partner organizations offer, free of charge, in the areas where they work. If a user chooses to create a log-in and a personal account, they can also save the practice compilations they create so that they have them filed away for future use. All activity on the app is free. Where to find more information The app found here comes from the full GAME Academy website, which can be found at http://gameacademy.ngo . Here you can use the same username and password information as on the app, and again browse, compile and save the content in order to create street sport practices. You can also learn more about the European Union’s Erasmus + Sport programme, the five partner organizations, and other organizations that support the partnership in providing healthy and accessible street sport activities to young people around the world.