SEDY project: Sport empowers disabled youth

We are convinced that the participation of children in sport activities contributes to the social, emotional and physical development of children. The professorship “Kracht van Sport” (Power of Sport) from the University of Applied Science Amsterdam (HvA) and Inholland University is the project leader of this Erasmus+ funded project.

Method
The research consists of different activities, each of them assigned to one of the participating partners.
The activities are:

• Project and data management
• Inventory in the countries involved in the project (Lithuania, Finland, United Kingdom, Portugal, France, Italy, the Netherlands): collection of the data and development of the SEDY tool, followed by a conference
• Exchange of best practices
• Development of pilots and the monitoring of these pilots
• Evaluation
• Publication of the results

The project runs from 2015 until 2017. In this period we expect to obtain more knowledge of the relationship between demand and supply applied to sport for children with a disability and the best ways to support this group.

The final goal is to increase the participation of children with a disability, and thereby to increase the social integration of this group. The outcomes of the research and the SEDY tool will, in the years following the project, be used for further development and knowledge acquisition.



Research team
The research is controlled by the project leader of the HvA and will be conducted in seven countries. The partners involved in the project are a mix of organisations and complement each other in both knowledge and field experience: four universities, two sport federations, one pan-European organisation and two non-profit organisations. Each organisation delivers one or two project members.

The partners of the project are:

• Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, School of Sports and Nutrition, Netherlands
• InHolland University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands
• Youth Sport Trust, Great Britain
• WheelChair Dance Sport Association, Great Britain
• Finnish Sports Association of Persons with Disabilities (VAU), Finland
• ENGSO Youth, Italy
• Sport & Citizenship, France
• Lithuanian Sports University, Lithuania
• Sport Science School – Polytechnic Institute of Santarem, Portugal.

• Visit the SEDY project page on the Hogeschool van Amsterdam website