About ESA
The project “ESA – Enriched Sport Activities Program” (project ESA) addresses the objective of social values of sport, in particular health, physical fitness, social inclusion and improvement of sport motivation, by implementing an intervention program to carry out through the involvement of children typically developing and with special needs as well as their parents.
9 partner organizations from Italy, Turkey, Portugal, Croatia, Lithuania, Spain and germany are involved in creating and establishing a collaboration that will end up in the creation of several outcomes all aims at improving social inclusion, equal opportunities and psycho-physical well being in typical and atypical children through sport and physical activity participation in combination with cognitive tasks oriented to improve executive functions as working memory, planning and inhibition processes in children.
The project is funded from the Erasmus+ Sport program of the European Commission. The 26 month project will be operational from January 2017 till January 2020.

BACKGROUND
The project addresses the objective concerning the promotion of Social Values of Sport, in particular health, social inclusion, equal opportunities and improvement of motivation to engage in sport activities, as stated in the priorities of “Work Plan of Sport” adopted by EU Sport Ministers for the three years 2011-2014 and with the “2nd Work Plan for Sport” for the years 2014-2017.
Also the Dissemination of project’s activites and results is being planned by taking into account a key principle established by the above cited Plans and by the HEPA – expert group recommendation to create valuable interactions with the sport sector, local authorities and the private sector.
ACTION PLAN
In order to achieve the main aim of the project the partners will implement a series of steps that will guarantee a good impact over the target group and a sustainable effect over time.
The implementation of the intervention will carry out through two ways. The first is parents’ involvement by the education on cognitive, motivational and social benefits of sport and PA in child development. The second is children and youths participation in Enriched Sport Activities.
This Enriched Sport Activities Program will undergo a three-year phase of development with the contribution of a specialized practitioners team (coaches, sport scientists, educationalists and psychologists) and the establishment of an European network among families, practitioners and schools. This network approach has been chosen because old-style physical activity promotion interventions using individual approaches have revealed to be limited in long-term maintenance of benefits obtained.
AIMS OF THE PROJECT
Main goal of the project is to enhance social inclusion and motivation to sport and physical activity in different countries of the European Union. A growing body of studies has identified sport and Physical Activities (PA) as key factors to contribute to well-being and health in children and youths with typical and atypical development (Alesi et al., 2014a).
It is becoming increasingly clear that a sedentary lifestyle shows a risk for enlarged rates of psychosocial impairments, onset or aggravation of medical diseases, welfare assistance, use of medical services, all resulting in extremely high economic health costs. Consequently, sport intervention programs are increasingly employed in risky situations to enhance quality of life, health, equal opportunities and social inclusion for participants (minors, women, population with sociocultural disadvantage or special needs).
TARGET GROUP AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVES
The project consortium aim indeed is to elaborate on a possible continuation of the ESA cooperation experience targeted on different forms of special needs and/or – taking into account the HEPA expert group recommendation stating that “Physical activity should be promoted from birth and throughout the life course, at all educational levels: early childhood, primary, secondary education, and tertiary level. The pre-school and school environments play a key role in the development of physical education and promotion of physical activity and sport” – targeted to the early childhood age group. What is more, the latter is a topic which needs to be tackled in the wider EU perspective, given the significant gaps existing among EU countries in terms of early childhood sport policies.
From this point of view, in the ESA program the development of outcomes of high quality and transferable to be further applied will be a crucial factor.
Meet Our Team

Rosario Genchi
Managing Director
Consulente del lavoro, esperto di programmazione comunitaria e sviluppo locale, informazioni e gestione dei progetti. È project manager ESA Program.

Antonino Bianco
Scientific Coordinator Thematic Area 1
Pedagogiche e della Formazione presso la Facoltà di Scienze Motorie dell’Università degli Studi di Palermo. È responsabile scientifico ESA Program.

Marianna Alesi
Scientific Coordinator Thematic Area 2
Pedagogiche e della Formazione presso la Facoltà di Scienze Motorie dell’Università degli Studi di Palermo. È responsabile scientifico ESA Program.
Latest Articles
Esa program – III. Transnational meeting in Croatia
Esa program consortium is going to meet in Croatia from 17-20 Aprile 2018. Work in progress for the upcoming meeting in Split, Croatia. #ESAPartners never stop working, implementation of #ESAProgram is happening every single day....
Esa program – Impelentation in Spain
With ESA Program, our Partners from Murcia are not only making tests but they are also creating ART. Create your own Art with your own Body. Erasmus+ #ESAProgram #CognitiveSciences #SportScience #MurciaSpain
Esa program – Presentation in Granada
#ESAProgram was presented by our partners from University of Murcia in Granda, Spain. Looking forward to disseminate ESAProgram everywhere. Erasmus+ #Dissemination #ScientificConference #ESAProgram #ESAPartners #Spain [gallery columns="2" size="medium"...