Multiplier sport event – Italy
Multiplier Sport Event Report
On 17 December, the INSIDE multiplier sports event organised by US Acli took place in Rome: a
national conference to present the project and its outputs and to discuss and debate related issues.
The event took place at the headquarters of the CIP Italian Paralympic Committee. The CIP is the main
Italian sports institution responsible for organising and enhancing Italian sports for disabled people
and promoting full integration through sport and equal opportunities for all disabled people through
the Paralympic movement, which includes not only Paralympic sports federations but also Paralympic
sports promotion bodies such as the US Acli
The decision to involve the CIP in the organisation and implementation of the Italian multiplier sports
event seemed strategic for
– disseminating the project’s outputs and results to sports organisations and collaborators
involved in the disability field;
– consolidating a collaboration aimed at encouraging sports participation and the social
inclusion of people with disabilities through sport
The event was attended by educators/sports and social workers, representatives of sports
organisations and associations that work with people with intellectual disabilities daily, and
Institutional and sporting/social representatives.
The works opened with speeches by the US Acli National President, Damiano Lembo, who highlighted
how the aims of the INSIDE project are consistent with the reform process of sport and the third sector
that is affecting our country. Among the innovations and opportunities introduced by the reforms are
the enhancement and support of the social role of sport and a more open and inclusive vision of sport,
giving equal dignity to top-level sports, grassroots sports, and citizenship sports. Producing useful tools
for the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities through sport is an important choice because
it helps to fill an important cultural gap
The project, its results and the activities implemented by US Acli were then presented with testimonies
from professionals and participants in the activities. These testimonies highlighted the methods
chosen by the US Acli to implement the project’s activities: integrated sports activities aimed at people
with and without PwID for inclusion starting from sports practice, and the commitment to the
recognition of the right to sport for all. This was followed by testimonies on other integrated sports
initiatives promoted by the US Acli, including that of Claudio Gazzellone, a Paralympic athlete and
member of the asd 3 millennio, who recounted his experience and personal growth, emphasising the
importance of a reference network for achieving objectives, recently winning the Fisdir Italian
competitive athletics championship in the open category of the men’s 400 metres and graduating in
education sciences. The speeches of the local institutions present, including that of Erica Battagli,
President of Commission VI – Culture, Youth Policies and Labour and member of Commission V – Social
and Health Policies, of Roma Capitale, and that of the President of CIP Lazio, Marco Iannuzzi, with
whom the US Acli collaborates, reiterated the need for such actions to be within an overall project
that sees the strategic synergy of institutions and social and sports actors. Erica Battaglia became the promoter of the project to be presented to the sports associations of the municipality of Rome at the
municipal institutional headquarters.
Finally, the US Acli National Head of Training highlighted the centrality of training in the INSIDE project.
The outputs presented
– are a tangible sign of a project that does not come to an end but leaves ample opportunities for
growth and development inside and outside the US Acli thanks to the tools and professionalism
trained through this path;
– enable the change/cultural growth of the sport to be tackled with in-depth training resulting from
research and experimentation
Thanks to the INSIDE capacity-building course, aimed at US Acli sports operators and undergraduates
and graduates in motor sciences from the University of Cassino and San Raffaele in Rome, we have
experimented and consolidated a work format and a good group of trainers useful for expanding the
US Acli training offer, especially in intellectual disability aimed at the internal circuit and the network
of educational agencies with which we operate. The operators trained within the INSIDE project will
be enrolled as technicians or educators in the US Acli Qualification Register and will contribute to give
continuity to the training with the INSIDE tools. For the US Acli, technical training assumes value and
grows in level if it is enriched by transversal skills capable of implementing processes of inclusion and
social growth. Hence the prominent role within our Register played by training courses such as the
one promoted by INSIDE and professional figures such as those trained through the project.
To make them more usable, the INSIDE tools will also be uploaded to the online training platform set
up by the US Acli, which is continually powered and updated with training tools and lessons and with
the results of new research, experimentation, and projects to keep up with times and maintain a
significant role in the field of citizenship sport and inclusive sport.
At the end of the speech, the participants in the capacity building training course attending the
meeting were awarded a certificate of participation in the course and a diplomas and technical badge
certifying registration in the US Acli
All presents were given a project brochure containing a short presentation of INSIDE and its outputs
as well as useful references for their retrieval.
