—— PRESS RELEASE ——

As the countdown to the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games is now a year to go, 3 international youth organisations came with the idea to build on the Olympic Legacy and convince institutions about the power of using sport as a methodology for non-formal education. As part of this project 30 young people from Europe and Brazil will flock to Rio to volunteer during the Olympics.

Three youth organisations, Gold de Letra (Brazil), Everything is Possible (United Kingdom) and Polgár Foundation (Hungary) will cooperate during a 2 year project with the objective to ride on the wings of the Olympic Games and work for the recognition of sport as a methodology for non-formal education. They come from different countries but have a similarity: they all support young people with fewer opportunities, using sport as an education methodology and would like to encourage national institutional fundings to support post Olympics projects and bring sports education to a wider target group, specifically targeting young people.

Clair Brown, co-founder of Everything is Possible, said:
“There is a little recognition of the significant impact on young people’s educational development. Many young people on the edges of mainstream society (having failed in school, experienced homelessness, drug and alcohol misuse or contact with the criminal justice system) can be easily engaged through the diverse mediums delivered through sports education.”

As part of ‘Olympic Legacy’, 30 young people will flock to Brazil to volunteer during the Rio 2016 Olympic/Paralympic Games. They will be in charge of promoting recycling and support disabled and older people accessing the Games.

The three organisations are all based in a country which has hosted or will host Olympic activities: London 2012, Rio 2016 and the European Youth Olympic Festival in 2017 in Hungary. This European funded project is therefore aiming at building capacity and developing good practice giving sport the visibility and legitimacy it deserves as an educational methodology. The ‘Olympic Legacy’ project will start in November in the United Kingdom where youth educators will have the opportunity to visit legacy projects in London in order to inspire the creation of local community sports education projects in Hungary and Brazil.

For more information or to arrange an interview with anyone at Everything is Possible, contact Raphael Harfaux, Visibility and Communications Co-Ordinator Raphael@everythingispossible.eu .

Notes to editors:

1. Olympic Legacy is a project funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Commission.