SHAPE-IN Sport: Sport for Health, Active Participation, and Empowerment in Local Communities

Sports associations promoting adapted disciplines for people with disabilities, such as wheelchair handball, play a crucial role in social inclusion and health promotion. However, they often operate with limited resources and without replicable models for collaboration with schools, traditional sports clubs, and local communities, which restricts joint participation of people with and without disabilities.
SHAPE-IN Sport addresses this challenge by opening adapted sports organizations to school and extracurricular contexts and creating shared sports spaces. Through practical activities, staff training, and scientific support, the project directly contributes to the Erasmus+ Sport priorities of social inclusion, equal opportunities, health promotion, and strengthening local sports organizations’ capacities.
Project Structure
• WP0 – Project Management and Coordination (€15,000): Efficient project management, partner coordination, activity monitoring, and reporting.
• WP1 – Wheelchair Handball Open Days (€20,000): Organization of 2 inclusive Open Days, European best practice exchange, awareness-raising, and mixed participation of people with and without disabilities.
• WP2 – School–Club Inclusive Sport Modules (€10,000): Development and piloting of educational modules in 2 school/extracurricular settings, engagement of athletes as role models, and production of teaching materials and guidelines.
• WP3 – Mixed Sports Formats and Staff Training (€15,000): Short training sessions for coaches and teachers, piloting of 2 mixed sports formats, and sharing of inclusive methodologies.
Partnership
The project involves 3–4 European partners, including sports associations and research institutions, enabling experience sharing, methodology exchange, validation of modules in diverse contexts, and creation of replicable solutions. Transnational cooperation strengthens impact and sustainability while promoting European values of inclusion and equal opportunities in amateur sport.
Impact and Sustainability
SHAPE-IN Sport generates immediate, measurable local impact through pilot actions and training activities and ensures long-term sustainability by developing practical tools, strengthening organizational capacities, and maintaining cooperation between sports, schools, and local communities.