ALL SPORTS – THE END OF A SPECIAL PROJECT

The All Sports project is an initiative of Portugal Social Innovation 2020 and CRESC Algarve 2020, partnerships for impact. It had the support of four social investors and the European Union.

The regional project supported children aged 6 to 14 years with special educational needs and was free of charge. Participating municipalities were Tavira, Vila Real de Santo António and Castro Marim. The aim was to combat exclusion for those with special needs in sports, to empower them, promote inclusion and encourage participation in sports activities. It was instrumental in overcoming the constraints associated with this integration and to establish the basis for these children to be involved, included and accepted in sports activities. The project created the opportunity to integrate in sports practices and activities such as trampolines, acrobatic gymnastics, football, skating and personal training in gymnasiums and outdoors, with peers free of educational needs. This was facilitated by partnerships with gyms and sports clubs in the aforementioned municipalities.

The concept was based on a set of factors (material and immaterial, know-how, economic and institutional), the objective of inclusion and overcoming the paradigm that is currently based only on integration.

The aim of this project was to reduce the presence of physical rehabilitation programmes for children with special educational needs attending sports activities. Simultaneously promoting sports practice with peers and with the adaptation of equipment and materials and training of sports professionals for a truly inclusive sports practice.

The evaluation of the results of the All Sports was carried out using a quad-experimental design, with pre- and post-intervention evaluation, using as an instrument to measure the functionality of the participants the International Classification of Functionality (ICF) 2004, namely the adaptive behaviour scales and quality of life assessment in intellectual and developmental disability. Although the ICF is not directly a political instrument, the information collected is used to develop social policies and political changes aimed at strengthening and supporting the participation of individuals. Its use can contribute positively to the establishment of policies by providing information that will help establish health policies, promote equal opportunities for all and support the fight against discrimination against people with disabilities.

This project lasted two and a half years, and ended in December. It was conceived preCOVID-19, and developed during a pandemic, and must be adapted to the new social and health circumstances that have been imposed.

The evaluation scale was performed by qualified professionals in Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and Clinical Psychology, from the team of therapists of the SER Igual Association. It was applied to all participants at random, at the beginning and at the end of the project.

The target was 45 children with disabilities and educational needs, who improved in the level of functionality and cognitive and emotional aspects by at least 60% through inclusive sports. Inclusive sports practice is understood for children with educational needs who do not have the opportunity to integrate in sports practices with peers without special needs. We had 46 children practising sports. 45 obtained more than 60% advancement in the mentioned aspects.

Data shows we see that the largest percentage of our population are male children with autism. It is these children who have the greatest difficulty in engaging in sports in sports clubs, mainly due to their difficulties in sensory processing and social and relational abilities, which makes it difficult for them to be with peers, react to unexpected sounds, more intense lights and whose motor coordination is in deficit.

It was also found that some participants left the chosen modality, to practise other modalities outside the project. This indicates that at a community sports club level, there was a greater openness for the reception of children and young people with social, relational and intellectual difficulties. Most of them entered swimming, basketball, and hip-hop. The method applied in terms of training was more effective at a ratio of 1:1. Also at the level of the football modality it was found more effective to put psychology of sport to the coaches of the partner club, since in 2021 there were complaints from the managers about changes in the behaviour of athletes and increased school difficulties reported by parents.

The training provided to the PTs was by the technical team (occupational therapist and physiotherapist), the gym and trampoline teacher (by the physiotherapist and occupational therapist) and the coaches of the football club by the sports psychologist.

We also found that some of the children with anxiety symptoms were showing learning difficulties at school and that there had been an abrupt change in their daily routines and as such they were not able to organise themselves and resume their life normally.

We were able to perceive that in 2021, more than 10 children reduced the frequency of their therapies, in favour of participation in the project, which helped to achieve a familiar financial harmony.

With the end of the project, we cannot finance the frequency of sports free of charge as we have done in the last two years. We are hopeful that there may be social investors who want to continue to promote and sponsor the All Sports project, as well as seek new social investors who want to promote social inclusion through sports.

Have you heard of the Association SER Igual?

Associação SER Igual is a non-profit association for handicap people and with Public Utility that is helping children, teenagers and their caregivers to get better life quality and helping change the paradigm of inclusion in East Algarve.

Please visit us on our FB page (@SerIgualPT) and IG (@igual.ser) and make an appointment to geral@seronline.pt or by phone 918180020. I thank you once again for your attention and to look out for our next article.

When I grew up no one spoke about cancer, diabetes, allergies, ME, MS, fibromyalgia, and other auto-immune challenges. This is because cases were extremely rare.

In 1976 my father died prematurely at the young age of just 46 from a rare bone cancer, although Mum claimed it was cricket that killed him. I now believe she was right. More on this later in the article. In the 1970s the survival rate from cancer was just 24% according to Cancer Research UK.

Uncle Reg, Dad´s brother, received a diagnosis of ´sugar ‘diabetes, Auntie Margaret, Mum´s sister, completed suicide brought on by medication and grief, my mother died from the effects of multiple medications, my granddaughter died following her MMR jab at the age of 17 Months and I have endured four different cancers including stage IV (stage V is death). All these conditions were potentially avoidable. I find myself now on a life-long quest to support individuals to take responsibility for their own health and wellbeing, so they don´t have similar sad stories within their family. Mum told me never to marry a sportsman. She said I would always be poor because equipment can be expensive, and I’d never see my husband because he would be playing his chosen sport. My Dad was a keen sportsman and played every weekend and in-between his police shift work at every opportunity. In 1960 he moved our family down from Derbyshire