This project focuses on undertaking a Small Collaborative Partnerships action. The actions of this project will be related to the promotion of traditional sports and games (TSG). The following sections detail the specific objectives of this project. The European tradition of both child and adult play has led to an extraordinary variety of ways to talk and interact. ETSG are a mirror of the social, linguistic and cultural richness of the different territories forming part of Europe, and as such they acquire the dimension of cultural heritage. This is recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), which states that TSG are part of intangible heritage and a symbol of the cultural diversity of our societies.

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The general objective of the BRIDGE project (Promotion of European Traditional Sports and Games, a BRIDGE for Intercultural Dialogue) is to promote European traditional sports and games (ETSG) as a bridge to actively foster peaceful intercultural coexistence.

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The BRIDGE project will pursue the following specific objectives:

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1. To develop a model of good practices for education in intercultural coexistence through ETSG;

2. To establish a model for the organisation of TSG festivals where youths, adults and older people can share an intercultural dialogue in a peaceful way;

3. To establish a sustainable transnational network to promote ETSG, aiming to exchange good practices and experiences;

4. To demonstrate, with scientific evidence, the contribution (social impact) of TSG for promoting intercultural dialogue.

 

To achieve these objectives, four areas or lines of work are established:

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1. The development of an educational application of intercultural coexistence, based on ETSG, in schools in Spain, France, Italy and Portugal.

2. The activation of networking among these European schools.

3. The incorporation of traditional games played in the BRIDGE schools project into the Tocatì international festival of traditional games held annually in Verona, Italy, establishing a bridge for dialogue among students from these schools, and also with other participants and organisations attending the festival.

4. The scientific study of the social impact on intercultural dialogue activities undertaken by schools. This work will be conducted by researchers from universities of the participating countries.

 

The BRIDGE project will therefore establish a network to value the intercultural human capital that characterises 21st-century European society. In other words, this project will establish a bridge or cooperative work (network) between different European organisations to promote ETSG as an active way of fostering intercultural coexistence in Europe.

 

ETSG invite people to meet each other. When a person plays a game, he or she expresses the willingness to share an experience with other people. Each ETSG has a set of original rules that triggers democratic processes of coexistence. By accepting, creating, discussing or even modifying the rules of ETSG, both children and adults, female and male, learn and become aware of the meaning of a community contract. Therefore, learning to play ETSG is learning to live in a community, and learning to live together.

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http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/physical-education-and-sport/traditional-sports-and-games/