APP.ly Respect: Together Against Violence in Sport

ongoing

Sports play a crucial role in the lives of children and adolescents, alongside family and educational settings, making it essential to ensure that the sporting environment remains safe and protective. Participating in healthy and secure sporting activities offers numerous benefits and has a lasting positive impact on the present and future development of young people. However, violence in sports remains a significant concern. According to the Child Abuse in Sport – European Statistics (CASES) study, 75% of respondents reported experiencing some form of interpersonal violence in a sports context during their childhood. These violent behaviors, often hidden or overlooked, have profoundly negative effects on the physical, psychological, emotional, cognitive, and social development of victims. This project aims to raise awareness among children and young people about peer violence (bullying, physical violence, etc.) as well as violence perpetrated by adults in sports. The goal is to prevent and address these issues through a rights-based approach. To achieve this, an interactive application will be developed, offering a playful methodology with educational resources and tools to tackle these topics. The app will also feature anonymous questionnaires to assess the prevalence of violence and a dedicated section for reporting incidents and obtaining support in the process. A pilot version of this application will be tested with adolescents from sports club to evaluate its impact and ensure its scalability. Additionally, training and resources will be provided to coaches and sports personnel in the selected club, equipping them with the tools to address these forms of violence while fostering the creation of specific mechanisms for prevention and intervention.