Success@360 - Bridging Sport, Safety and Health

The Project Success@360 - Bridging Sport, Safety and Health brought together four local badminton clubs from Malta, Czech Republic and Italy to carry out a project under Sport Small Collaborative Partnership targeting the objective to protect athletes, especially the youngest from health and safety hazards by improving training and competition conditions. Pre-submission - Following a number of informal discussions and communications it was decided that organisations from Malta, Italy and the Czech Republic will be the main participating organisations in this project. The communication among the partners and preparations for the project was continuous. Together we have planned the programme and the various events which took place in the respective countries of all participating organisations. In order to ensure the successful implementation of our project, before the submission of the application, each participating organisation was in contact with a number of stakeholders, the members of the respective clubs and various organisations which participated in EU funded projects. Post submission - Once the project was approved, a meeting was held online to discuss the way forward and the role that each participating organisation will have. A project steering committee led by Birkirkara Badminton Club and involving representatives from participating organisations was formed. The lead partner adopted a centralised system where an ad hoc reporting system was created in order to take account of all the costs involved. During the first transnational Meeting of the Steering committee an internal memorandum of understanding was signed whereby the spirit in which the organisations should be collaborating together would be outlined. During the meeting we also discussed the communication tools to be used during the project to facilitate communication among all parties involved.Implementation -Implementation – ( February 2018 – April 2019) Four Transnational events were held as follows with the participation of club administrators/coaches, athletes and relevant stakeholders, all contributing directly to the project themes.•1st event: Italy (Mar 2018)•2nd event: Czech Republic (July 2018)•3rd event: Italy (December 2018)•4th event: Malta (April 2019)Transnational events included thematic sessions, educational sessions, simulation exercises with the involvement of athletes and representatives from each club and relative stakeholders and professional speakers in the field. Participants discussed and looked into the benefits of hazard free environment when playing badminton, combining sport and education for safe sport careers, EU projects and mobilities. Project sessions were held through debates, seminars, workshops, on site visits to sport centres, meeting policy makers, networking sessions, evaluations, operations of different clubs and sharing of best practices. Between one transnational event and another, each partner held awareness campaigns within other sports organisations including schools, associations and Olympic committees targeting the project objective, also including sessions for the general public thus having a wider audience. Also each partner organised a national event to promote and support health and safety in sport at the club’s locality/premises targeting different audience with the aim of raising awareness and sharing of best practices. This was also used as a tool to disseminate project results and the project itself. The partners were in continuous contact through skype calls and regular updates on the project Facebook page. This ensured ongoing discussions on project and practical arrangements thus keeping constant communication on appropriate project phases for preparation, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and dissemination and the ultimate project’s success.