Coaches from Luxol Sports Club and Kercem Ajax FC have successfully completed their one-week training in Specific Sporting Disciplines for People with Special Needs and Specific Goalkeeper Coaches Training and have benefitted from Cumbernauld College’s excellent Sports facilities and training programme which created a broader understanding of Sports within a European context.

The mobilities took place at Cumbernauld College in Scotland in collaboration with Special Olympics Global Football. The coaches’ participation in this VETPRO project promoted acceptance and equal opportunities, social integration and anti-discrimination and was a positive learning experience involving sport disciplines like football, swimming and handball amongst others. The delivery of the course was carried out by a group of lecturers actively involved in the professional football and sports arenas such as Todd Lumsden, Captain of Raith Rovers FC, David McArdle SFA Disability Development Officer and Adam Fairweather of Special Olympics.

The experience has left a great impact on the participants providing them with the opportunity to improve their skills and ultimately their experience and all were credited towards their achievement with the Europass Mobility Document.

Strong links have developed with our host partners with ongoing discussions focusing on placement training content and dissemination of good practice in terms of vocational training and work experience programmes and this project has helped to establish links and strengthen partnerships between Scottish and Maltese organisations.

Football touches the life of 170 million individuals with intellectual disabilities. The world of Global Football has the values of personal dignity, acceptance and social inclusion as the centre of attraction where the aim is to give these individuals opportunities and set goals in an effort to expand and raise the quality of their coaching and use participation to build skills on and off the field of play.

The exchange of this experience and good practices achieved through participation in Lifelong Learning will also be disseminated during a National Thematic Monitoring Seminar as well as in a valorization exhibition of good practices open to the public to be held at Pjazza San Gorg, Valletta on Thursday 28th November, 2013 between 9:00 and 16:00hrs in the form of posters and disseminating promotional material, where on the day a representative of Luxol Sports Club and Kercem Ajax FC as well as the participants will have the opportunity to speak about the experiences gained throughout the project life cycle.

Leonardo da Vinci is part of the Lifelong Learning Programme, and is funded by the European Commission.