For the 12th consecutive year in the water-educational sports center of the National Sports Academy "Vasil Levski" in Nessebar children and adults with disabilities participated in a summer camp on adapted water sports.
The camp took place from 12 to 24 June 2018 with the participation of children from adapted water sports at the Water Sports Department of the National Sports Academy in Sofia, children with disabilities from Plovdiv and Silistra, their peers without disabilities and adults from the Home for Adults with mental disabilities in the town of Banya, Karlovo. Traditional guests of the camp were also coaches from the Republic of Turkey, specialized in adapted physical activity at the NSA.
The daily activities included in the camp program were swimming, rowing and sailing. Varied relay games, beach fun and gymnastic complexes have diversified the serious learning process. The culmination of the sports program are kayaking and swimming competitions that run in the spirit of fair play, and the most important of all is the participation and demonstration of personal achievement.
Regardless of the wide age range (ages 7 to 45) and the differences in physical intellectual functioning, all participants were sporting and having fun together, demonstrating the inclusive strength of sport, and that we are all equal in sport.
Stefka Djobova, head of the MA program "Adapted Physical Activity and Sport", pointed out that this initiative is one of the best inclusive practices that are being implemented in Bulgaria for the integration through sport of diverse groups and the reviews are more than excellent from all participants. Students in the specialty "Adapted physical activity and sport" have the incredible opportunity to apply the acquired knowledge during their training in the Academy. The activities were also carried out thanks to the active work of the lecturers from the AFAS sector of NSA - Velichka Alexandrova, who coordinated the swimming and aqua activities, and Ivelina Kirilova, responsible for beach games. Active cooperation was the social worker accompanying the participants from the home in Banya as well as all the parents, accompanying and assisting the disabled people. The camp also included students from the Erasmus + Student Mobility Program from China, Turkey and Spain.
The experience of NSA educators shows that adapted water sports activities are extremely beneficial to the physical and mental health of people with disabilities. Activities have a powerful positive effect on the socialization and integration of children and adults, regardless of the nature of their special needs. Therefore, the methodology of the conducted training is oriented bilaterally, on the one hand to the accomplishment of complex goals, on the other hand, to tasks related to the individual personal development. An important part of it is the social program, which this time included the exploration of the cultural and historical heritage in Nessebar, the art studio and the favorite of all parties with music, many dances and surprises.
Bulgarian sports development association supported the camp by providing t-shirts to the participants and the instructors to remind that good governance in the sport sector creates prerequisites for the full participation of all groups in our society. #GoodGovernanceSport is coordinated by the Bulgarian sports development association. #GoodGovernanceSport / 590305-EPP-1-2017-1-BG-SPO-SCP / is co-funded under the Erasmus + Sport Program of the European Commission / Strategic partnerships in the field of sport / of 7 countries, which will last for 30 months, starting on 01/01/2018. The #GoodGovernanceSport project aims to find a way to analyze, collect and promote good practices for appropriate visibility of decisions made and made, responsible bodies and transparency of sports organizations in Europe and partner countries.
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