Five international football clubs gathered in Rotterdam to reflect on the FAIR-play project of Erasmus University Rotterdam. Within this project, youth workers from these clubs were educated by psychologists and pedagogues on the theory behind increasing resilience and life skills of youth. This knowledge was then used to develop football training exercises, aimed at promoting skills in areas, such as coping, leadership, and goal setting. The theory and exercises that followed from EUR’s collaboration with these clubs have now been compiled in a book.
You can download the Fairplay book here.
The football clubs that were involved, Feyenoord, Werder Bremen, Hibernian, Charlton and Inter Campus, were active on three different continents; Europe, Africa and South America. All FAIR-play training sessions built on the clubs' existing social programmes.
Combining theory and practice
FAIR-play is an acronym for 'Football for Adolescents to Increase Resiliency; A Programme for Life-skills And Youth'. The aim of the project was to combine scientific insights and practice in training sessions to facilitate personal growth of teenagers. Youth workers from each club transferred relevant theoretical insights to the youngsters in exercises that were developed in cooperation with researchers from the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Various themes were addressed, such as optimism, coping mechanisms, motivation, and friendship that were also probed in questionnaires at several points in time. The expectation with regard to the functioning of these youngers was that the exercises would make them show more resilience and personal growth on these themes.
Increase in optimism and intrinsic motivation
The initial findings of the study indicate increased optimism and intrinsic motivation as a result of the training sessions. The effect for optimism was found in the children who initially scored low in this domain. One conclusion we can draw is that through FAIR-play and with the right coaching, the most vulnerable children can experience personal growth.
Guidebook for football clubs with social youth programmes
These different themes and exercises have been compiled into a book that reports on the components of the FAIR play project. This book consists of three parts. First, it provides an overview of the scientific concepts behind the training sessions at the clubs. This is followed by a chapter with schematic representations of the training sessions as they were offered to the children. Finally, the book contains an account of the experiences within FAIR-play at the clubs. For now, this guidebook is only available to participating clubs. Those interested in viewing it can contact Prof. Katinka Dijkstra by e-mail: k.dijkstra@essb.eur.nl.
During a final meeting in Rotterdam, the findings of the project were presented to the participating clubs. The findings are twofold. First, the football clubs will make presentations about their experiences on the field over the past three years. In addition, Prof. Katinka Dijkstra will present the scientific results of FAIR-play on behalf of the EUR.
Writers guidebook: Kulani Peiris Millaniya, Ingeborg Smit, Katinka Dijkstra
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Marjolein Kooistra, communicatie ESSB, kooistra@essb.eur.nl