SIT2PLAY – Inclusive Sitting volley: a tool for changing the perception of disability
SIT2PLAY Project will develop an inclusive, fun and engaging sport called Inclusive Sitting Volley which will leverage on the benefits of traditional volleyball, one of the most relevant team sports in Europe. SIT2PLAY will address the concepts of “disability” and “diversity” in sports in a new way, turning around certain established concepts in order to create a truly inclusive sport.
The project directly addresses the current needs and objectives expressed in European policies about sport for social inclusion, in turn addressed by the Erasmus+ Programme. SIT2PLAY will provide, in fact , “opportunities for marginalised and underprivileged groups to interact and integrate with other social groups…providing those with a disability an opportunity to showcase their talents and challenge commonly-held stereotypes”. Abating stereotypes is a very strong need and this is the reason why SIT2PLAY partners conceived a project that wants to change the typical views on “abled” and “disabled” people and puts everyone on the same level. Sport works to improve the inclusion and well-being of people with disabilities in two ways — by changing what “communities” think and feel about people with disabilities and by changing what people with disabilities think and feel about themselves and others. The impact of sport both on community and individuals helps reducing the isolation of people with disabilities and integrating them more deeply into the community life.
SIT2PLAY aims at pushing forward inclusion by developing and promoting a sport which will be by nature non-discriminatory and inclusive. The project proposes a new idea of inclusiveness where abled and disabled people will share the same movement skills. Therefore, the project will test in the real world an innovative social inclusion model through the definition of new Regulations for playing the game, the implementation of a specific training programme for teachers and educators and, finally, the concrete organization of Inclusive Sitting Volleyball (ISV) tournaments at national and international level.
The main results of SIT2PLAY will be 7 Intellectual Outputs (a set of multilingual outputs including best practices, guidelines and training materials) able to provide the opportunity, for European stakeholders working with kids and youngsters in different countries, to learn and share new models and best practices. The final result will be a new set of rules for Sitting Volley necessary for making the sport more accessible in Europe, in order to promote it in schools and among young people.
