09 Jul Healthy Sports Clubs Workshop at Mondiale Antirazzisti
Coaches and staff attending Mondiale Antirazzisti in Italy last week received brief intervention training during public health workshop exploring the power of sport and its relationship with health.
Building on the success of the Active Voice project, Healthy Stadia staff delivered a multi-risk brief intervention training session for coaches and staff attending Mondiale Antirazzisti – otherwise known as the Anti-Racist World Cup.
Founded in 1997, Mondiale Antirazzisti is a sports festival that uses football, and other team sports, as a platform to tackle racism and promote diversity. Over the years the festival has grown, and also works to promote other progressive issues such as environmentalism, support for migrants and refugees and LGBTQI rights.
This year, event organiser and Active Voice project partners UISP (Italian Union: Sports for All) invited Healthy Stadia to deliver a multi-risk brief intervention workshop, adding public health to their list of priorities.
The first part of the workshop discussed the concept of ‘Healthy Stadia’ and ‘Healthy Sports Clubs’ and how coaches can use the power of the badge and the informal setting of sport facilities to talk to a wide variety of people about their health.
Lifestyle risk factors including physical activity, food and nutrition and tobacco usage were discussed in the second part of the training session which also explored the rise of non-communicable diseases over the past 50 years.
The third and final part of the training session looked at behaviour change and how brief interventions can be used to encourage individuals to think about change and set short- and long-term goals. Coaches were given the opportunity to practice their skills and reflect on individual differences.
Feedback from coaches and staff following the workshop was very positive with several suggesting that more coaches and sports organisations could benefit from understanding how their clubs can have a positive impact on the health of individuals and communities.
The Active Voice project is led by ISCA (International Sport and Culture Association) and is seeking to build capacity in civil society organisations to engage in active, cross-sector advocacy for the implementation of the EU Physical Activity Guidelines.
Later this year, the Active Voice consortium will launch an online learning platform designed to enhance the knowledge and skills of coaches and support the development of grassroots organisations as ‘health-promoting’ settings.
For more information about the Active Voice, you can visit the project website here.
