OASI - Open Air Sport for Inclusion

According to estimates from the World's Children 2021 report by UNICEF, mental health disorders, including depression and anxiety, are now present in 16.3% of European youth aged 10–19 years, an estimate that is higher than the global average of 13.2%. Sport and physical exercise in the open air is one of the most effective ways to prevent and treat mental health disorders. There is an urgent need for the development of specific health education and behavior interventions by sports associations and stakeholders to promote physical activities in the open air among adolescents and in particular those suffering anxiety and depression. The benefits of OPEN AIR physical activities are numerous, among which: increased wellbeing due to contact with the nature, increase safety due to social distancing, lower investment in specal equipment, higher level of eco sustainability (decreased use of resources like electricity), and last but not least – the possibility to do activities in rural and depressed urban areas with no sport centres thus involving vulnerable groups. OASI proposal – Open Air Sport for Inclusion is directly linked with one of the specific policy priorities in sport - Encouraging the participation in sport and physical activity. The project partners from Bulgaria, Italy, Romania and Slovakia have discussed and will seek innovative ways to attract participants – adolescents of age 10 and 19 to do physical activities outdoors. Some of the activities will be proposed as a daily routine (walking, cycling to commute from one place to another) others as recreation activities with peers. The purpose is to foster changes for a physically active lifestyle that can last much beyond the project end. Flexibility and creativeness of partners and stakeholders will be the key of success of the project. All project activities will be designed in an accessible and inclusive way and will be open to people with fewer opportunities from depressed urban and rural areas.