Open air, open sport for everyone

Background OPEN was a project aimed at opening possibilities to people with different abilities to experience outdoor sport activities. Most of us sense that just taking a walk in a forest is good, but for researchers it can do much more: it has real health benefits, both mental and physical. For people with disabilities sport has a greater value, as it is a special way to redeem capacities, to be seen and perceived as people “that can do something special” instead of “people that can’t do normal things". Objectives The project OPEN was aimed to promote inclusive outdoor sports activities and events in the local natural environment and to share good practices among partners coming from different environments and experiences. The goal of the project OPEN was to make the outdoor sport activities accessible for everybody, mostly for disadvantaged, disabled or inactive people. Implementation OPEN started with a research about good practices of accessible sport activities in 5 countries: Italy, Montenegro, UK, Poland and Portugal. During 2 international meetings in Italy and in UK we shared good practices and we experienced what outdoor inclusive sport activities mean through participation in 2 public sport events that were open to local citizens. It ended with a festival of accessible outdoor activities during the last international meeting in Poland. Achievements We produced 5 videos recorded during local accessible outdoor sports events realized in all partner countries. These videos were dedicated to 5 good practices chosen by the partner organisation and were spread to show the benefits they bring for inclusion and health, and to reach the whole Europe.