WHO?
The Brazilian Olympic Committee, with the encouragement and the support of the International Olympic Committee, organised another Sport for All day during the Brazilian University Games in the city of Blumenau, State of Santa Catarina. This edition of Sport for All Day was divided into two main parts, the Sport Clinic and the Mini Athletics Festival. The Sport Clinic was filled with professors and students from the field of physical education in the community. Afterwards, children aged 6-15 years old from various athletics projects in the state of Santa Catarina participated in the Mini Athletics Festival.
WHAT?
The first part of the Sport for All Day featured a leading physical education professor giving a training session on the utilisation of mini athletics as a teaching methodology. His teachings focused on nine areas:
1. The implication of fundamental elements (running, jumping and throwing) in a playful manner
2. The importance of student-teacher integrated participation
3. The promotion of health and social interaction as guiding objectives for sports practice
4. The relevance of principles in team building
5. How versatility principles are based
6. Age-group division
7. Adaptation to the site and matching the duration of the Clinic and the Festival according to the people involved
8. Examples of alternative materials and the advantages of their utilisation
9. Demonstration of how to set up a circuit of activities and their respective objectives
Afterwards, all the teachers worked together in a workshop using materials such as old tyres, broomsticks, plastic bottles, hula hoops, paint and cardboard boxes to produce alternative equipment for the practice of track-and-field sports.
The following day, the teachers were able to put their training into action at the Mini Athletics Festival. The activities started with a warm-up activity, followed by separation of the children into eight groups, each team wearing a different colour. The students were then able to complete the circuit designed by the teachers.
HOW?
The Brazilian Olympic Committee’s Sport for All Day was supported under the IOC’s Sport for All Commission patronage. Each year, the Sport for All Commission awards IOC patronage and financial assistance to 15 to 20 NOCs in each of the five continents. The Sport for All events they organise can be drawn from a wide range of activities, the main selection criterion being that the event concerned must truly be open to all. To enable all countries to benefit from this programme, an NOC which obtains IOC patronage may not submit a further request for a period of three years. Furthermore, to encourage and promote the holding of new events, a particular event may receive IOC patronage only once. So far, more than 150 NOCs have benefited from this programme.
RESULTS
Both the teachers and the children greatly enjoyed the training and festival events. Participants benefitted from the opportunity to take part in unique sporting activities that showcased ways in which everyone in the community can get involved in sport using everyday materials to create practical and amusing sports equipment and infrastructure.