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Project partners:
ŽKK Domžale (FB, Instagram) EcoNet Varaždin (FB) Pallacanestro Interclub (FB, Insta, YT) Zavod Didona |
Disclaimer: Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
Materials published on this website are free to download and use for educational purposes, under fair use clause.
The Where and the Why
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Sport clubs engage in daily activities and practices with their athletes, organize mass events and participate in events all over the country, thus contributing a great deal of environmental impact through their operations. They also serve as educators for the young generations that they work with daily, and contribute to the shaping of the character, practices and mindset of future generations.
With this project, our focus was on improving the clubs' environmental practices, including in their daily operations, and in the organization of mass events, to reduce the negative impact on the environment, especially at mass events. Alongside, our aim was also to make an impact on the future generations, to raise their awareness on the importance of environmental protection, and to work on improving their practices in daily lives. |
Project objectives
1. To educate the staff and young athletes on the importance and topics of environmental protection 2. To improve clubs' practices in implementing their daily activities and mass events 3. To raise awareness on the importance of environmental protection among sport organizations 4. To find practical and useful methods for sustainable implementation of clubs' activities |
Female basketball clubs from Italy, Croatia and Slovenia joined forces in this project.
First, we educated the coaches and staff of our partner clubs on the general topics and specific methods of environmental protection. With that knowledge, they implemented environmental workshops with their young generations of athletes, looking for usable solutions in the organization of mass events, and also in daily operations of the clubs. Then the athletes participated in organization of one mass event within their respective clubs, in which they used the methods defined through the environmental workshops.
Through coooperation in this project, coaches and staff advanced their knowledge of environmental protection methods, athletes raised their awareness on the importance of environmental protection, and clubs developed new sustainable practices that they will be using in their daily activities and in organizing mass sporting events in the future.
We have shared the knowledge we gained through this project with other basketball clubs in the region, with schools, and with other sport organizations in our circles of influence, in the form of a easy-to-use brochure format, that includes workable methods that can be utilized in their activities. (You can find the brochure in all four project languages further down on this site in the section Results, and are welcome to download and use it.)
First, we educated the coaches and staff of our partner clubs on the general topics and specific methods of environmental protection. With that knowledge, they implemented environmental workshops with their young generations of athletes, looking for usable solutions in the organization of mass events, and also in daily operations of the clubs. Then the athletes participated in organization of one mass event within their respective clubs, in which they used the methods defined through the environmental workshops.
Through coooperation in this project, coaches and staff advanced their knowledge of environmental protection methods, athletes raised their awareness on the importance of environmental protection, and clubs developed new sustainable practices that they will be using in their daily activities and in organizing mass sporting events in the future.
We have shared the knowledge we gained through this project with other basketball clubs in the region, with schools, and with other sport organizations in our circles of influence, in the form of a easy-to-use brochure format, that includes workable methods that can be utilized in their activities. (You can find the brochure in all four project languages further down on this site in the section Results, and are welcome to download and use it.)
Education
At our initial seminar, coaches and staff of partner clubs were educated on environmental protection topic, to refresh their memory on the topic and prepare them for work with young athletes. We delved into environmental impact sport activities have on the environment, how to mitigate them, and researched sustainable methods in organizing mass events. We also touched on the EU policy and documents on this topic.
This has prepared the coaches for summer work with young athletes, where they have together reasearched environmental aspects of sport activities, learned about environmental protection methods at organizing sport events, and brainstormed for methods that they can utilize in organizing sporting events, in their daily activities in the club, and in their daily lives at home.
At the end of the learning period, they had put their new-found knowledge to practice and organized one club event using the defined sustainable methods.
You are welcome to read through our educational materials and download them for your own educational purposes. Materials are available in English and Italian language.
This has prepared the coaches for summer work with young athletes, where they have together reasearched environmental aspects of sport activities, learned about environmental protection methods at organizing sport events, and brainstormed for methods that they can utilize in organizing sporting events, in their daily activities in the club, and in their daily lives at home.
At the end of the learning period, they had put their new-found knowledge to practice and organized one club event using the defined sustainable methods.
You are welcome to read through our educational materials and download them for your own educational purposes. Materials are available in English and Italian language.
| environmental_protection_methods_in_sport_events.pptx |
| metodi_di_protezione_ambientale_negli_eventi_sportivi.pdf |
Implementation
With the knowledge and materials from the inital educational seminar on sustainable methods, the coaches set to work with their athletes. First, they shared the knowledge in the clubs, among other coaches and staff, and set the stage for coaches' work with athletes. Then, during the summer activities and preparations, all clubs implemented workshops with their athletes, exploring the topic of environmental protection. They presented the topic, then allowed for the youth to brainstorm on possible solutions, and then they worked through finding the most feasible methods with regards to their clubs' conditions, activities, and options at their disposal.
We used the workshop guidelines for acquainting the youth with the topic. We used various youth work methods to work on the topic, like quizzes, brainstorming for solutions, role-playing. We worked with young girls from 10-18 years, so the methods were varied. You are welcome to use our educational guidelines for your own work with young athletes and pupils, and you can downloard them here:
We used the workshop guidelines for acquainting the youth with the topic. We used various youth work methods to work on the topic, like quizzes, brainstorming for solutions, role-playing. We worked with young girls from 10-18 years, so the methods were varied. You are welcome to use our educational guidelines for your own work with young athletes and pupils, and you can downloard them here:
| workshop_guide_for_work_with_young_athletes.pdf |
With the knowledge and materials obtained at the workshops, every club organized one mass event with the help and assistance of the young athletes, in which they used the sustainable methods found through their summer activities.
It took additional work, but the reward for the coaches was to see the zeal of the young athletes, the embracing of the topic in their daily discussuions, and the development of ownership over the organization of the events, and over the topic itself.
Apart from the work with young athletes, the clubs have, for themselves and their future activities, tried and tested some of the sustainable methods in organization of mass events, in organization of their daily activities, and have, through participation in the project, succesfully adopted some of the methods for the operation of their clubs.
In the end, they said, it wasn't even hard, all it took was some incentive, some knowledge and some willingness on the part of the clubs' members.
It took additional work, but the reward for the coaches was to see the zeal of the young athletes, the embracing of the topic in their daily discussuions, and the development of ownership over the organization of the events, and over the topic itself.
Apart from the work with young athletes, the clubs have, for themselves and their future activities, tried and tested some of the sustainable methods in organization of mass events, in organization of their daily activities, and have, through participation in the project, succesfully adopted some of the methods for the operation of their clubs.
In the end, they said, it wasn't even hard, all it took was some incentive, some knowledge and some willingness on the part of the clubs' members.
Results
Through our project work, we have come to the realization that there is a lot we can do as sports organization, mostly in the area of reducing the amount waste, and in reducing of our carbon footprint.
Sport events we organize create a lot of waste from food packaging materials, single-use bottles, and lack of waste-sorting. Those were elements we could work on most effectively by rearranging the catering solutions, placing water stations and equipping the venues with recycle bins.
Sport events we organize create a lot of waste from food packaging materials, single-use bottles, and lack of waste-sorting. Those were elements we could work on most effectively by rearranging the catering solutions, placing water stations and equipping the venues with recycle bins.
We were also very fond of circular-economy methods, where clubs have adopted the idea of garage sales, to make use of old equipment and training materials, before ditching them and creating more waste. Garage sales is something we will be implementing in our activities on regular basis.
In the area of air quality and transportation, we have discovered that just by driving to regular club practice on weekly basis, the activitiy of one of the partner clubs amounts to additional travels of 25.200 km in one year, just for regular training of 35 girl atletes. So motivating 10 girls to use bikes for transport to training practices, and grouping the other 25 to carpooling, would reduce the 35 trips with car to 10 trips per training session, which would reduce the total annual distance traveled to 7,200 km instead of 25,200 km. This means a reduction of the total distance traveled by approximately 18,000 km per season.
If an average car emits about 150 grams of CO₂ per kilometer, then reducing the distance by 18,000 km would decrease CO₂ emissions by approximately 2,700 kg, or 2.7 tons. And that is not an insignificant number. Considering that an average tree absorbs between 10 and 20 kg of CO₂ annually, this effort is equivalent to planting about 180 trees.
If an average car emits about 150 grams of CO₂ per kilometer, then reducing the distance by 18,000 km would decrease CO₂ emissions by approximately 2,700 kg, or 2.7 tons. And that is not an insignificant number. Considering that an average tree absorbs between 10 and 20 kg of CO₂ annually, this effort is equivalent to planting about 180 trees.
So as a result of working on this project, clubs have started using some of the methods in their daily activities and in events. Carpooling to tournaments, walking and biking to daily practices, a change of venue for practice to one that is more energy-efficient, using finger-food and less packaging in events, placing recycle bins, using water stations and return bottles at events and so on, the list is impressive.
As they have said themselves, the most important thing about this project is raising awareness among the younger generation, who quickly adapt and adopt the new ways. They have discussed the issues among their athletes a lot this past year, and they all say that change is visible. Also, the transition wasn't even hard.
As they have said themselves, the most important thing about this project is raising awareness among the younger generation, who quickly adapt and adopt the new ways. They have discussed the issues among their athletes a lot this past year, and they all say that change is visible. Also, the transition wasn't even hard.
Through our activities, we have defined the best and most usable methods for sport organizations to implement in their daily activities and mass events, and have compiled them in a easy-to-use brochure that we have shared with other basketball clubs in the region, and disseminated through our circles of influence.
It is our hope that other organizations that implement mass events, sport clubs and schools that we cooperate with, will use the methods compiled herein to improve their own environmental practices and share it further with other organizations. We also hope that, through our example, they will come to realize that change is easy, all it takes is just a little effort, but can be very impactful on a larger scale, contributing to massive improvement.
You are also welcome to download the brochure from this website in any of the four languages, use the methods presented therein, and share it in your circles far and wide:
It is our hope that other organizations that implement mass events, sport clubs and schools that we cooperate with, will use the methods compiled herein to improve their own environmental practices and share it further with other organizations. We also hope that, through our example, they will come to realize that change is easy, all it takes is just a little effort, but can be very impactful on a larger scale, contributing to massive improvement.
You are also welcome to download the brochure from this website in any of the four languages, use the methods presented therein, and share it in your circles far and wide:
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