The Ariadne project aims to promote volleyball as a tool to reduce youth marginality and deviance, issues that increasingly affect young Europeans. The main target group are high school students between 14-18 years old but also their families, teachers and sport trainers. The project foresees a bottom-up approach with students and the presence of experts in youth deviance: volleyball games will be organized in schools with the supervision of the experts, then the students will be asked to write essays with personal reflections on marginality and youth deviance. Essays are a good way to evaluate the project impact. The experts will then be able to evaluate both the behaviour during the matches and the writings of the students, reporting the most serious cases to parents and teachers in respect of privacy. The project will also consider the role of families, schools and trainers. Seminars will be useful to raise awareness among these target groups. 

Partners will also participate in the European Sport Week by organizing volleyball tournaments for students and, on the final day, a volleyball game in the town square hosting some professional volleyball players who will play together with the students.

The communication strategy is built upon some relevant aspects: the presence of volleyball professional players, by the celebration with volleyball games of the National Days against Bullying and Violence and the European initiative 1DayMore4Volleyball.

Project activities

The Ariadne work programme includes 4 main work packages:

Work Package 1 – Preparation
Duration: January – July 2021

  • Preliminary analysis – Marginality and youth deviance cases, Actions undertakes by participating territories and best practices
  • Realization, distribution and collection of questionnaires for students
  • Preparation of materials for students, parents, teachers, trainers
  • Privacy document for the safeguard of students and families

Work Package 2 – Implementation
Duration: August 2021 – September 2022

  • Assessment of the initial deviance awareness by the students – 1st students’ essays
  • Organization of 4 seminars for each partner (2 seminars for students, 1 seminar for teachers and trainers and 1 seminar for parents. After each seminar participants will be asked to fill in an evaluation form, useful for the activity report.
  • Organization of at least 5 school volleyball matches, per partner, with the presence of an expert of marginality and youth deviance
  • Organization of youth volleyball tournaments during the European Sport Week at the end of September 2022.
  • Final game in town squares with professional volleyball teams
  • Assessment of the final deviance awareness by the students – 2nd students’ essays

Work Package 3 – Dissemination
Duration: January 2021 – December 2022

Definition of the Communication and Dissemination Plan

  • Dissemination material: flyers, emails
  • Awareness rising events and volleyball games during a national celebration day in 2021 and 2022:
    Italy – Celebration on National Day against bullying and cyberbullying – February 7 2021 (wasn’t possible to organise due to Pandemic) and 2022
    Slovenia – International day for elimination of violence against women – November 25 2021-2022
    Greece – National day against school bullying and violence – March 6 2021(wasn’t possible to organise due to Pandemic) -2022
    Latvia – Child Protection Day – June 1 2021-2022
    The last day of February is the 1DayMore4Volleyball, an initiative promoted by CEV (European Volleyball Confederation), partners will spread it among schools and sport associations.

Work Package 4 – Monitoring and Evaluation
Duration: January – July 2021

  • Monitoring IT1
  • Evaluation of results: Reports about the analysis of the experts & Verification of target number

Partners will also participate in the European Sport Week by organizing volleyball tournaments for students and, on the final day, a volleyball game in the town square hosting some professional volleyball players who will play together with the students.

The communication strategy is built upon some relevant aspects: the presence of volleyball professional players, by the celebration with volleyball games of the National Days against Bullying and Violence and the European initiative 1DayMore4Volleyball.

Project Results

1. Focus the attention of a large number of young people on the issues of juvenile delinquency and marginalization
2. Creation of a network for the promotion of multiple sporting events in the territorial areas involved
3. Creation of a new standard of interaction between families, educators and experts on youth sport issues
4. Increase the involvement of young people and their families in sports activities.
5. Greater focus on national and European sports initiatives such as EWOS or National Days against Bullying and Violence
6. Increased interaction between sports associations and civil society
7. Good practices obtained
8. Impact obtained

1. Focus the attention of a large number of young people on the issues of juvenile delinquency and marginalization
• The use of the survey of students’ attitudes towards problems related to marginality and deviance and of the survey survey of young people’s attitudes towards sports practice, both available online, has made it possible to focus the attention of a large number of young people on the issues addressed by the project and at the same time provided a very accurate picture of their views on these issues.
• The bottom-up approach with the students, in particular the involvement of the same class groups in both seminars and sports activities, has ensured that the students have been able to address the topics concerning marginality and deviance, in the form of an internal debate of the class. The possibility of rediscovering the same positive and negative attitudes expressed by students even on the field and being able to experience the results in relationships with others with a view to the success or failure of one’s team has led to a change in the system of relationships within the classes involved . Some students complained of feeling excluded or misunderstood, others of the impossibility of maintaining relationships with some classmates. In general, within the classes involved, a greater sensitivity and ability to investigate the small or large inconveniences of others was established.

2. Creation of a network for the promotion of multiple sporting events in the territorial areas involved
• The project has facilitated collaboration between sports associations, schools, institutions and third sector associations by creating a promotion network for multiple sports events dedicated to the citizens of the territorial areas involved.
• This network will continue to collaborate after the end of the project.

3. Creation of a new standard of interaction between families, educators and experts on youth sport issues
• The questionnaires can be repeated in the immediate future at fixed time intervals, allowing in an extremely sustainable way to cyclically bring attention back to the main themes of the project, evaluate changes in the attitude of young people and develop new prevention or awareness initiatives.
• In Latvia the seminars represented an interesting new tool for interaction with students and parents. Until now they were a tool dedicated only to experts and trainers. This will decisively help the participation of families in the sports and school education of young people.

4. Increase the involvement of young people and their families in sports activities.
• The fact of carrying out the sports activities envisaged by the project involving schools and relying on sports facilities in the reference area has made it possible to spread attention to national and European sports initiatives such as EWOS or National days against bullying and violence even outside the large city centers. Already starting next year in the province of Arezzo – Italy for example, many more schools will organize initiatives for both anniversaries.
• Some sporting activities promoted within the project, such as the system of tournaments between schools, have proved to be interesting and sustainable both economically and educationally, and for this reason they will be proposed again in the future.
• In Greece parents showed a great interest in the seminar activities and expressed the wish to repeat such actions more often. The European Week of Sport events which took place in the municipal park, enjoyed a great response from students and teachers as it was something new and at the same time great fun for all. Sport in nature, combined with the appearance of professional players, was the recipe for success. In general terms, the Municipality of Katerini has benefited enormously from the Erasmus+ project. The opportunity to join students in extracurricular activities has created a very happy atmosphere with an expectation from students and teachers that such actions will be repeated in the future.

5. Greater focus on national and European sports initiatives such as EWOS or National Days against Bullying and Violence
• Schools were asked to celebrate the national days against bullying and violence with a game of volleyball or other sport after the end of the project as a good way to remember how sport can help young people fight marginalization and deviance. The number of schools taking part in these events has increased thanks to the project.

6. Increased interaction between sports associations and civil society
• The project activities aimed at promoting interaction between schools and sports associations have launched a series of collaborations between motor education teachers and athletes, in particular representatives of Paralympic sports, these will be easily re-proposed in the future within the already foreseen school initiatives aimed at sports practice.
• In Italy, the promotion of sports-themed training events dedicated to the educational community have created a new standard of interaction between families, educators and experts on youth sports issues.
• In Slovenia, the impact of the projects will mainly be seen on young people who are facing their own challenges. Kids with happy, easy lives weren’t affected that much, which is logical. Some schools are already implementing dropout workshops in their school system, which is the best possible impact a project can have. 2 volleyball clubs will continue with workshops and have included psychologists in their regular performance evaluation of the boys. Some parents were obviously very enthusiastic about the seminars and even asked if we could organize them outside the project, individually for them and their children.

7. Good practices obtained
The project has provided its main good example in the concept of bottom-up approach in the prevention and fight against marginality and deviance that has been adopted. The idea of working on a large scale to give young people the basic tools to offer listening and help to peers who are facing problems of marginalization and deviance, not only has a sustainable and lasting impact, but creates interest and participation in young people making them feel like an active component of the chain and makes the search for an effective language to spread awareness much easier.

Italy
• The synergy of school, sport and third sector associations within an institutional context has made it possible to bring on a large scale a type of participatory planning that until now was relegated to small experimental initiatives with limited impact.
• It is important to consider the fact that all the schools and all the sports associations in the area were involved in the project presentation phase and in the subsequent investigation phase through online questionnaires and even if they did not actively participate in the subsequent phases, they will benefit from the results of research and will be able to make use of this experience for their future initiatives.

Slovenia
• In addition to representing an effective and innovative element for teaching children recognition and sensitivity towards youth discomfort, the project has brought out with renewed strength the example of the sports environment and the relationships that exist within it as “safe place” to allow young people to face their discomfort without suffering attacks or disqualifications.
• Sports have also proved to be an excellent means of integrating young refugee children who, even though they barely speak Slovenian, can play volleyball regardless of all “differences” and are treated in the same way as other children.
• The inclusion of the local sitting volleyball team in the volleyball club was very welcome, this sport was presented as a tool to overcome the different differences. Mixing players with physical limitations and physically fit people is a great move to reduce margins. And once again volleyball is their “safe place”

Greece
• A very important impact is the repeated mass gathering of students from different schools, which doesn’t happen very often in our city and indeed for an extracurricular activity where the main theme is sport. This has proved to be a great joy for the students, who seem to need such activities.
• A very significant fact is that all the teachers who participated in the activities, both as students’ companions and in the seminar that concerned them, had the following characteristics:
1. very active and willing to engage in extracurricular activities
2. excellent understanding and communication with students
3. willingness to participate in similar actions in the near future
4. they thought such actions were extremely beneficial for student progress

Latvia
• The seminar activities represented something new for our students and their parents, they allowed them to talk about the problems we have today and that we have to face every day. They have become part of the toolbox available to experts as a means of creating participation around the issues of youth discomfort. They talked about the problems that we have today and which we have to face every day. The seminars were the best part of this project.

8. Impact obtained

Project achieved outcomes (target numbers expected/realized):
Number of schools involved: (10/country):38/93
Number of classes involved: (30/country):120/191
Number of kids involved: (750/country): 3000/3254
Number of teachers involved:(30/country): 120/132
Number of trainers and sport associations involved: (20/country): 80/182
Number of parents involved: (125 country): 500/344
Number of youth recovery associations involved: (5/country): 20/29
Number of seminars: (4/country) 16/20
Matches: 5/country: 20/49
Awareness rising events : 2/country: 8/9
Tournament in 9/2022 : 4/4
4 seminars/country: 16/18 in total
2 for students: 640/738
1 for parents: 500/284
1 for teachers & trainers: 200/253
Initial questionnaires: (250/country): 1000/2388
Evaluation forms after each seminar: 842
Country reports on seminars, volleyball games and experts activities: 4/4
Pre and post matches evaluation questionnaires: 663
Newsletters (8/country): 32/37, Newsletter recipients: 3469

The project has facilitated collaboration between sports associations, schools, institutions and third sector associations by creating a promotion network for multiple sports events dedicated to the citizens of the territorial areas involved.
This network will continue to collaborate after the end of the project.

Schools were asked to celebrate the national days against bullying and violence with a game of volleyball or other sport after the end of the project as a good way to remember how sport can help young people fight marginalization and deviance. The number of schools taking part in these events has increased thanks to the project.

Some sporting activities promoted within the project, such as the system of tournaments between schools, have proved to be interesting and sustainable both economically and educationally, and for this reason they will be proposed again in the future.

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