After meetings in Vienna, Budapest and Leeds, the fourth meeting of the Pro Safe Sport for Young Athletes Expert Group of the Council of Europe has taken place in Berlin this week.
The group is tasked with developing a tool kit for sport administrators, coaches, parents and athletes to support the fostering of safe environments for young people engaged in performance sport. The promotion of the physical, mental, and moral wellbeing of young athletes is the key driver for this European Commission funded project.
A number of key organisations from all over the European Union, such as SportsAid, TASS, European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation, International School Sport Federation and Sport Accord, are part of the group. The International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE) and Leeds Metropolitan University are represented by our very own Carnegie School of Sport Senior Research Fellow, Sergio Lara-Bercial.
However, in addition to Sergio’s regular participation as a group member, Professor Sue Backhouse and Dr. Leanne Norman played a very important part in this latest meeting in the German capital. In response to a call from Stanislas Frossard, Executive Secretary of the Enlarged Partial Agreement for Sport of the Council of Europe, Sue and Leanne delivered master classes on the current state of affairs in the world of Anti-Doping and Gender Discrimination education and promotion in sport. The two sessions were extremely well received.
Frederic Donze from the World Anti-Doping Agency said: ‘The work that Prof Backhouse and her team at LMU have done has informed our education and development policy strongly over the past few years’
Michael Trinker, Council Of Europe’s Pro Safe Sport Project Manager said: ‘We are very grateful to Prof Backhouse and Dr Norman for sharing their vast knowledge with us. This will go a long way in informing what the final toolkit looks like. Leeds Met and the ICCE are european and world leaders in this area’.
The group will meet again in Paris in October with a view to finalising the tool kit and start the implementation phase leading to the final project conference in Rome in May 2015.
