Sport for development and peace – From the 19th to 23rd of September the volunteers Vincent Albers and Lasse Preissler visited another Global Sport for Development Knowledge Collaborative (GloKnoCo) fieldtrip, this time at the University of Brighton. Among representers of global acting organisations, like Vincent and Lasse, also students from the University of Brighton, the Paderborn University, and the Palacký University Olomouc took part in this final event of the Erasmus+ Network project.
This time the event was co-organized by Football for Peace (F4P), an NGO founded amongst others by Dr Mark Doidge and Dr Thomas Carter, who are professors at the University of Brighton. In the week the volunteers visited different local organisations, which apply the SDP policy, took part in classroom lectures and field activities. In specially designed lessons, with a mixture of theoretical and practical exercises lecturers and coaches thought the volunteers about value based training (VBT). Also, it was shown how they worked in different countries and communities and how sport can be used as a tool for development.
In addition to the activities on the campus, Vincent and Lasse got an insight to other development projects across Brighton. For example, the Premier League Club Brighton & Hove Albion, which runs a charity called Albion in the Community. On the fieldtrip two trainers showed in an active session how they try to reach the people of Sussex and which different exercises they use to get people started in the game of football.
Another organisation is Value Your Development (VYD). This is a social impact Community Interest Company, that enacts grassroots football projects engaging marginalized communities around and in Brighton and Hove.
At Sussex Cricket Foundation they learned about how they try to make cricket available for everyone. The host, Aroop Tanna, who leads the disability cricket team, showed the volunteers his idea of community work and sport for development. He gave a very good inside how commitment and a little bit creativity can make a big impact on how to include people from different minorities into sports.
The last fieldtrip went to the Nam Yang Martial Arts Club, which is a Brighton Community Association that works with the community, refugees, and asylum seekers by providing martial arts sessions across Brighton and Hove. The afternoon in this sport club was a true inspiration to everyone and showed that you can have a huge impact on peoples life with not many resources but with a lot of passion and love.
Dr Simona Safarikova from Palacky University said: “This is just so important for our students. The opportunities to visit the UK, Brighton, and the organizations. They get to see different ways of doing things and opening their eyes to possibilities that they did not think of before.” This was echoed by Lasse Preissler: “It is good for us to learn from others. How we can do things differently and better. It is good to meet others and network with them too.”
