Sport is better than Cure

ended

Lack of physical activity among the general population is reported to be an increasing trend in Europe with 6 in every 10 people above 15 years who never or seldom exercise or play a sport (WHO, 2016). Such an inactive and sedentary lifestyle poses considerable health risks, especially in relation to diabetes and needs to be tackled in order to reach the overarching objectives of EU Sustainable Development policy, as well as the EU Workplan for Sports 2021-2024. Within the scope of “Sports is better than Cure” project, we aim to promote Cycling as a traditional European sport to combat/ prevent diabetes and improve health. Lasting 24-month, the project shall achieve 4 set objectives: (1) adopt a holistic approach that will integrate diverse aspects such as Health awareness (training and diet) – Cultural enrichment – Social connections into the Sports dimension (2) promote Cycling not only as a type of Sports but an optimal learning tool for cultural and social enrichment (3) design a preliminary Training program customized for specific target groups with defined health parameters (4) contribute with empirical insights to Sports policy and Sports Training programme. The project will produce two major deliverables: a. A Holistic Training Manual that integrates Sportive – Health – Cultural elements into Training practices b. “The Cure” Manual that provides empirical insights into the whole Training process, methodology, achieved benefits, and policy suggestions in an evidence-based manner. The primary beneficiaries are people accustomed to sedentary and inactive lifestyle, especially those over 35 that carry more risks towards developing diabetes. The consortium will bring together 3 geographically diverse partners from Italy, Spain, Macedonia and Serbia over 24 months under the coordination of New Horizons (IT). The partners' profiles vary from community organization, health consulting agency, and local sport clubs - a mix desirable to get the sought Results.