YMCA Georgia completed another successful event within YMCA Europe Generation Next Project.
Continuing the cooperation established last year with the Sports University of Georgia, 23 students representing various faculties of the educational institution came together at YMCA Georgia Resource Centre “Camp Orange” on August 5 – 11, 2022 in pursuit to enhance their academic knowledge alongside various non-formal education tools and methods.
Promoting a healthy lifestyle is of critical importance nowadays, as the dependency on gadgets and online entertainment affects majority of young population in Georgia. Therefore, the availability of qualified young sports teachers that can reach out to their communities and lead by example is of great significance.
To do so, these young future sports teachers need to possess a variety of skills and know-how and just the knowledge acquired within the formal education system is no longer sufficient in the modern society – community mobilization and their sustained engagement require a wholistic approach and non-formal learning and teaching methods are key in this regard.
This was exactly the approach adopted during the “Sport for All” workshop – along with curricular subjects, such as: planning the training process; proper nutrition; basic anatomy and injury prevention; sports medicine; rehabilitation, etc – the considerable amount of workshop time focused on subjects related to coaching and leading by example; innovative methods of working with local communities, especially in underdeveloped and challenging areas; the values that promote equal opportunities for all and development of healthy lifestyle programs at grassroots level. Introduction of various funding opportunities that are available for those willing to work in regional and rural communities was another relevant topic that was highlighted by the participants.
Good luck to these young women and men in their quest to multiply the skills and knowledge acquired at Generation Next “Sport for All” – the motivation was certainly there and high, and now we look forward to seetheir next steps and first fruits!
