On Friday, February 16, 2024, partners from Slovenia organized a local event titled “More Sports, More Inclusion,” where we presented the Include Me project. The event was attended by numerous experts in the fields of sports, pedagogy, and psychology, as well as coaches teachers and parents.
The first part of the event included a presentation of the project. As the project is slowly coming to a close, we presented the project’s progress, questionnaire results and general findings. Through the project, we successfully integrated three children/adolescents with special needs into regular sports clubs. Julija and Matic continue to attend general exercise at the Woop trampoline park Ljubljana, while Luka continues to participate in judo training in Judo club Tatami. We also prepared a short video in which Julija, Matic, Luka and their parents speak about their experience of inclusion in regular sports clubs. This provided the audience with the most vivid insight into the experience gained through the project.
The second part of the event comprised a round table discussion on the importance of exercise for individuals with special needs. Initially, coaches, parents and mentors shared their experiences of integrating children into regular training sessions and the challenges they faced. Overall, everyone evaluated the project as a very positive experience. This was followed by a discussion led by experts. We all agreed that exercise is extremely important for both people with special needs and those from the regular population. Exercise positively impacts physical and mental health and greatly influences socialization. We recognized the necessity of integrating individuals with special needs into sports, as it is the easiest way for them to integrate, and it also facilitates acceptance by peers. We discussed how to address the challenges of integrating individuals with special needs into regular sports clubs in the future – particularly from the perspective of regular sports clubs, to encourage them to be more inclined towards inclusion. At the same time, this would enable individuals with special needs to try and explore new sports.
The local event was really successful in fostering meaningful discussions and collaboration among stakeholders, paving the way for future initiatives aimed at promoting inclusion in sports.
