Course day 1
On Thursday, 14 June, the training and further education course for inclusion in team sports using football as an example began early in the morning with around 30 participants at the sports facility in Düdingen, in collaboration with Jugend und Sport, the Fribourg Football Association and the Fribourg Cantonal Bank.
After welcoming and introducing the course leaders Fritz Quien (VfB Stuttgart-Foundation Brustring der Herzen), Sandrine de Moura and Yanis El Jabri (Paris-Saint Germain Foundation) and defining the course objectives and programme, the participants went straight to the sports field, where they were given the opportunity to experience simulations of various disabilities. Wearing blindfolds, glasses, hearing protection and crutches, they were able to experience the challenges of football drills for themselves.
These self-experiences offered the participants the challenge of empathising with the lives of people with disabilities and understanding their difficulties.
After the simulation exercises, we returned to the seminar room. There the theoretical points were dealt with as follows:
What types of disabilities are there?
What does inclusion in and through sport mean?
What does this mean for me as a coach?
These topics were deciphered together and explained in detail by the course instructors.
Afterwards, the participants were given direct solution methods in the area of differentiation and adaptation possibilities on a theoretical level. After the lunch break, the groups welcomed the people with physical and/or cognitive disabilities who took part in the demo training sessions on the pitch.
A particular focus was on adapting the exercises in training to the players' abilities.
Another great success of our education and training programme in Düdingen was that the course was offered bilingually in German and French at the same time for the first time. Numerous players with physical and/or mental disabilities also took part, not only from football clubs but also from organisations for people with disabilities such as the SSB Foundation, Fondation Clos Fleuri, Fondation Horizon Sud and Atelier de la Glâne.
Course day 2
On the second day of the course, another new day began bright and early at 8.00 a.m. in the seminar room with a presentation by Jugend und Sport.
We then moved straight on to training sessions in group work, in which a game and/or exercise form for inclusive sport was to be developed, taking into account the different individual performance capabilities of the players.
After the practical implementation of the participants, there was a feedback round in which the successes and difficulties were discussed.
The second day was rounded off with the presentation of the FOOTBALL IS MORE certificate and a final exchange of information in which all participants were able to have their say once again.
We would like to thank all participants, players and supporters for these successful inclusion days and look forward to the next training and further education programmes for inclusion in team sport.
