First step in developing an educational module for football coaches made

After a short lull, activities on the project “Life Champions: Standing Together for a Healthy and Safe Community” have been continued according to the plan, with a focus on developing an educational module for coaches aimed at organized introduction of non-formal education in and through sports.

Process puts the coaches in its center, aiming to revitalize and strengthen their pedagogical and educational role, using the impact that coaches have on children and youth. Consortium is aware that it is important that socially important topics, which it plans to introduce in conversation with children through sports, are presented to them in a clear, understandable and interesting way, which is why it is important to equip and empower coaches with additional knowledge, skills and tools.

In this regard, an important part of the process is development of module that will be used to further strengthen the capacity of coaches themselves for educational work with children and youth. It will contain a number of relevant segments – from an overview of topics, principles and values promoted by the consortium, through recommendations for action for all actors of relevance – coaches, parents and children, to specific tools for introducing various topics through sports activities (educational games, simulations, case studies).

We are aware that development of such a module is a complex process that requires involvement of experts of various profiles, which is why, when forming the Working Group for Module Development, prominent sports workers were invited, as well as representatives of academia, psychologists, pedagogues, journalists, legal experts, youth activists and workers.

Working group for Module Development held a ZOOM meeting on March 26 in order to harmonize its unique vision of the concept it is moving towards; define further directions of joint work and divide responsibilities within the Group. During the meeting, project coordinator Aleksandra Knežević presented the information from Info Days of the ERASMUS+ program in the field of sports, introducing them to the specifics of new generation of the Program for the period 2021-2027. “We have opened an extremely important topic, which is not enough to be dealt with in a certain geographical territory or in a certain shorter period of time. We want our actions to be sustainable and to contribute to the orientation of children and youth to positive values and healthy lifestyles. In this regard, the consortium will continue with joint preparation of project proposals in the years ahead, and we see ERASMUS+ as one of the most important potential donors and partners in our efforts”, said Aleksandra Knežević on that occasion.

The working group will continue with its regular meetings until reaching the final proposal of the module, with whose content football coaches – project participants will be officially introduced at the initial training for coaches in June 2021, after which they will be able to apply all acquired knowledge and skills during two regional camps.

Development of the educational module is one of the main activities within the project “Life Champions: Standing Together for a Healthy and Safe Community”. Project is implemented within ERASMUS+ program of the European Union in the field of sports; coordinator is Development Center for Youth from Belgrade, and the consortium consists of partners from sports, youth and education sectors from Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Turkey.