SPORT PLAYS MIXED
The Sport Plays Mixed project was set up in order to allow young people to develop
awareness about the importance of mixed participation between male and female
participants, and to provide a platform for young people to gain the attention of senior
leaders and decision makers in order to give youth a voice towards gender equality in sport.
French National Association of Students
in Sciences and Techniques of Physical
and Sporting Activities agreed to join and
promote the project. As former students
of the University Paris-Sud, the Passe-
Sport association staff’s members were
eager to co-organise this project with local
students who were engaged with other
young people in proposing sport initiatives
at University. The project was co-organ-
ised with a local student association of the
University (AEMSO). With a strong focus
on European Youth, the project gained the
support of the European Non-Governmen-
tal Sports Organisation Youth (ENGSO
Youth). Due to the project’s focus on mixed
participation in sport from children to uni-
versity student level, the Union Nationale
du Sport Scolaire and European University
Sport Association also partnered the
project, with the Erasmus+ Programme
providing the funding from the Youth
Chapter KA1 action.
The project took place between Sep-
tember 27 and October 3, 2015 in Paris.
The project started with a non-formal
educational training course which used
Education through Sport as a meth-
odological tool which in this instance
advocated for equality through mixed
participation in sport for boys and girls.
The training course allowed the partici-
pants to share their experiences, learn
from others, receive first-hand examples
of mixed sport, evaluate their experiences
and come up with their personal recom-
mendations of how to create more mixed
participation in sport. Participants were
also able to experience a mixed sport
event first-hand by observing and evaluat-
ing a sport tournament organised by
Passe-Sport in cooperation with schools in
the greater Paris region.The non-formal education training course,
which also started and promoted the Eu-
ropean Week of Sport and the #BeActive
campaign, used education through sport
methodologies in order to deliver a clear
message among the participants that
sport can play mixed.The project concluded with the interna-
tional conference entitled “Re-thinkingand re-inventing sport: a key to promote a
sense of living together, special focus on
co-education and gender diversity”. The
conference was attended by over 80 par-
ticipants and included keynote speeches
and an expert panel debate in which the
European University Sports Association
took part, represented by its Communica-
tions and Projects Manager Mr Andrej Pisl.The final project recommendations were
prepared by 25 young people from across
Europe, representing Finland, France,
Germany, Italy and Spain, as an outcome
of the Sports Play Mixed training course.
Recommendations were given based
on personal experiences and specific
examples from participant’s countries, but
can be adapted to suit the needs of any
specific organisation or country.