The Centre for Inclusive Sports Studies (CEDI) founded in Madrid (Spain) Oct. 28, 2009
The Centre for Inclusive Sports Studies (CEDI) is founded in Madrid (Spain)
The Sanitas Foundation and the Polytechnic University of Madrid (Faculty of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences – INEF) have signed, last October 28th 2009, an agreement for the creation of Centre for Inclusive Sports Studies (Centro de Estudios sobre Deporte Inclusivo – CEDI, in Spanish) in Spain. The main goal is to research and raise awareness of inclusion in sport, an issue at the forefront of sports practice for persons with disabilities.
The CEDI will foster the practice of inclusive physical activities and sports for the disabled and non-disabled people alike. Headed by Professor Javier Pérez Tejero, it will analyze and promote the benefits of physical activities and sports for the handicapped in improving their health and encouraging their social integration. The studies and knowledge it generates are aimed at promoting a platform for action, especially among regular sports institutions, to promote equality and inclusion in regular sports practice. The Centre will work with sports federations to make headway in this field, as well as with universities, schools, sports clubs and other institutions. To deliver on these goals, the CEDI will work in four different areas:
• Research and Knowledge. It will carry out research work APA and sports in Spain in relation to different fields, such as clinical/rehabilitation, education, sport and leisure.
• Training and Skills. It will train Inclusive Physical Education and/or Technical Sports Training professionals’ analysis and requirements.
• Activities and Implementation. Main activities will be the development ofwheelchair basketball for children with and without disabilities; sports for severe disabilities will be developed at inclusive context and the inclusion of children with disabilities in school sports competitions at the regional and national levels.
• Awareness-raising. Publications, scientific forums and training courses on inclusive physical activities and Sports: materials and resources.
The new Centre is based out of the Faculty of Physical Activity and Sports Science-INEF at the Polytechnic University of Madrid and will have a website soon, where all the activities undertaken in the different project areas will be pubished and coordinated.
One of the first steps on the CEDI is to develop a research based state-of-the-art of the practice of physical activity and sports in Spain by persons with disabilities, together with the Higher Sport Council of Spain. Moreover, an overview book of “APA research and quality of life in Spain” will be published in early 2010. Apart from research, training and skills curricula for sport coaches is being developed with a strong focus in inclusion of persons with disabilities into sport mainstream.
But probably the main focus of the CEDI is the development of real inclusive activities, like the “Inclusive Basketball Camp” in May 2009, together with Real Madrid Foundation (see the picture with Real Madrid basketball team), the “Basketball Integration Day” last December 19th 2009, both in Madrid (Spain), or the inclusion, the first week of January 2010, of some sports for persons with physical disabilities (like swimming or wheelchair basketball) at the Spanish School Sport Championships (Zaragoza, Spain).
The CEDI will provide grants for doctoral students in Sports Sciences, especially for those with disability, developing projects in the context of the centre. But even we are honoured and glad to have in CEDI to the professors David Sanz Rivas (as national APA expert) and Yeshayahu Hutzler (as international APA expert) as external CEDI consultants.
With the creation of the Centre, the Sanitas Foundation wants people with disabilities to benefit from sport as a way of leading a healthier and better-quality life. It also aims to increase integration and provide fuller lives for the disabled people. This agreement is yet another part of Sanitas’s commitment to the people with disabilities and sport. The company is one of the organizations that supports the ADOP (Paralympic Sport Supporting) Plan to support the Paralympics, and is the official medical provider to the Spanish Paralympic Committee. Its work in this area has involved creating and managing the first and only medical service in the world aimed at a Paralympics team. It is concerned both with their daily health services and in preparing Spanish Paralympic team members for the Paralympic Games. (www.fundacionsanitas.org).
Javier Pérez Tejero
Faculty of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences – INEF; Polytechnic University of Madrid (Spain), j.perez@upm.es
