What is PATHE?

Physical Activity Towards a Healthier Europe or PATHE is an ISCA (international Sport and Culture Association) project, that in close cooperation with four associate partners, will work to build capacity in the European Sport for All Organisations and disseminate knowledge on the use of physical activity in health initiatives.

The core partners of PATHE are:
- Slovenian Sports Union (SUS)
- Unione Italiana sport per tutti (UISP)
- Union Sportive de l'Enseignement du Premier degré (USEP)
- Danish Gymnastics and Sports Association (DGI)

The overall strategy of PATHE is to build on past experience to actively support and further the European Communities White Paper ”Strategy for Europe on Nutrition, Overweight and Obesity related health issues”, specify within area of ”encouraging physical activity”. In short the project plans at meetings the following general objectives:
1. Build capacity within SFA organisations to develop effective national campaigns to make selected targeted audiences aware of the necessity to lead healthy lifestyles by doing physical activity and to broaden the availability of physical activity programmes to be goal oriented and inclusive rather than exclusive.
2. Disseminate knowledge on the promotion of health and physical activity throughout Europe.

PATHE will match partners experienced in developing national ”health promotion through sport” campaigns with less experienced partners that wish to develop national campaigns. Twinning will raise awareness among organisations as to the possibilities for fulfilling integrative approaches on lifestyle within the area of physical activity and health.

PATHE will develop a best practice hand book for the dissemination of knowledge, best practice and lessons learnt within the area of physical activity and health.


Specific objectives

Organisational Awareness Raising
PATHE will raise awareness among SFA organisations via targeted input of select meetings, events and publications (annual meetings, world congress, thematic seminars, Culture Sports Magazine, etc.) for ISCA European members. This objective fulfils the political mandate of the ISCA European Continental Committee (2005) that specifically states that such a project (PATHE) should raise awareness among ISCA members and other European organisations.

Organisational Twinning
PATHE will match Associate partners (AP) experienced in developing national ‘health promotion through sport’ campaigns with Collaborating partners (CP) that wish to develop national campaigns. Twinning will raise awareness among organisations as to the possibilities for fulfilling integrative approaches on lifestyles within the area of physical activity and health. Twinning will also encourage and support national populations to take responsibility for their own health, and to actively promote the choice of physical activity over a sedentary lifestyle.

Best Practice
PATHE will collect documentation from national initiatives to develop a best practice handbook for the dissemination of knowledge, best practice and lessons learnt. PATHE will also exchange collected evidence and experience on the development of national health and physical activity initiatives.

Capacity Building
PATHE will strengthen and support SFA organisational capacity by initiating seminars and consultations to develop knowledge on health enhancing physical activity and goal oriented physical activity programmes. Consultancy expertise from the associate partners to collaborating partners will help organisations develop their own national health and physical activity campaigns.

SUS NATIONAL PROJECT

HEALTHY SPORT CLUB

Sport Union of Slovenia has developed a quality label “HEALTHY CLUB” for health directed movement and for exercise offers by the SUS members. The introduction of this label helps realise our efforts to ensure and offer quality and health beneficial exercise programs in sport societies and to constantly improve these programs.

With the label “Healthy Club” the societies are able to prove to the outer public that their offer of “healthy exercise programs” is of high quality. The label is enable the people who are interested in exercise to find an exercise program that suits them best.

All activities in the field of healthy movement – sport need to be carried out carefully and with feeling, the same goes for dealing with the participants. This can be ensured with properly qualified trainers who have the knowledge, the teaching skills and psycho-social abilities needed and who will also take into account the criteria of “Healthy Club”. In addition to that the organisational and spatial conditions need to be in accordance with the contract contents. That is why SUS is trying to reach a high quality of offers in the field of “Health Club” and also maintain this quality.

For this reason we have developed the quality criteria for “Healthy Club”, which societies have to meet.

In support of the “Healthy Club” we have designed an all-round image with accompanying products which will present a “Healthy Club” as a whole and help the society and its trainers to label their programs. In addition to that we have prepared education for coordinators of “Healthy Club” and for the trainers of recreational programs, who will assure the quality of individual exercise programs.

Mission of the Project
Software modernization of the Sports Union programs and the formulation of national network of partners– enforcers of the programs which are meant to stimulate sport as a lifestyle.

Aim of the project
Complete modernization and adaptation of sports programs with the goal of becoming the key support to contemporary active and kind to health lifestyle.

Project goals
To qualify a lifelong sports center, recognizable in a local environment, which encourages and enables the execution of sports activities, which support the strengthening and keeping of good health. We can reach that by using well thought-out activities adapted to customer needs and wishes about how to spend leisure time.

Support aims and goals

• Development of the service brand which enables the recognition and the quality of sports-recreation programs and their sport clubs

• Development and encouragement of the sports-recreation program supply

• Development and immersing the partnership and the cooperation between sports, health and insurance field

• Development and encouragement of the quality and excellence in the sport clubs, which are the activity holders

Target groups

• Slovenian Inhabitants – support of public health strengthening with the healthy lifestyle programs and promotion

• Members of sport clubs, which are members of Sports Union of Slovenia – support of health strengthening with a defined supply of programs and sport activities in the project network

Reaching goals
Formulation of multidimensional and multipurpose lifelong didactic sports center as a key framework for developing the juncture between the public and private sport place.

Operative aims and goals

• Strengthening of the physical health resources

• Strengthening of the psycho-physical health resources

• Reducing the factors of risk

• Restraining the problems related to health

• Introducing the benefits of sport activities on health

• Developing motion and sport skills

Key activities on the sport aims and goals field

• Sports and voluntary work

• Sports for health

Support package intended for individuals

• Battery of tests: accessible, useful battery of tests intended for finding out the functional capacity, suitability of physical weight,…with intention of defining the momentary condition, setting goals and assessing the progress of each individual in the Health sport club project

• Motivational tools: educational and motivational tools used for accompanying and developing the elements, which form the healthy lifestyle (journal on active reducing your physical weight, personal training for increasing your personal physical capacity,…)

• Marketing tools: efficient marketing and promotion tools in order to support personal involvement and cooperation in the project (symbolic equipment, blogs,…)

Support package intended to promote health

• Marketing tools: marketing and promotion tools used for global campaign dedicated to the strengthening of public health.

Project integrated graphic image

Criteria to gain the quality sign of Healthy sport club and become a member of the network
CRITERIA FOR ELIMINATION

• Leader of the program Healthy sport club in a sport organization (club) that joins the project must have suitable professional education (higher education in sports or health field)

• Sport club has to be a member of Sports Union of Slovenia with paid membership fee for no less than one year

• Sport club must fulfill spatial requirements for the execution of sport training, which it demonstrates with a property/facility ownership or a lease concerning the usage of suitable sporting facility

• Sport club can gain the quality sign of Healthy sport club when it collects more than 50 out of 100 points – It can gain the sign with no less than three, four or five stars as shown on the below listed chart:

GENERAL CRITERIA

The program of a Healthy Sport club accepted into the national network is assessed by below listed criteria:

Criteria / 100 points maximum:

• Integrated designed program with well set goals – up to 20 points

• Unique organizational structure – up to 15 points

• Qualified leaders – up to 30 points

• Protective healthy examinations and additional heath insurance enabled for all of the participants of the Healthy sport club project – up to 10 points

• Constant quality supervision – up to 15 points

• Role of the Sport club as a partner in the health strengthening – up to 10 points

Selection resolution, accepted by the Executive committee of Sports Union of Slovenia, on the expert director’s proposal is final.
Register enrollment is valid until the revocation, which is accepted by the Executive Committee of Sports Union of Slovenia on the expert director’s proposal or is valid for three years.
The criteria was accepted by Executive Committee of Sports Union of Slovenia at the Committee meeting on the 26th of February 2007.

Legal and technical bases

• The national sport program in Slovenia, accepted on the 3rd of March 2000 (chapter 4.3. Sport recreation: The goal of adult sport recreation is keeping and improving the integrated health status…)

• The Slovenia’ s Government strategy on the field of physical activity in order to strengthen health 2007-2012 accepted on the 7th of March 2007.

• The strategy of Sport Union of Slovenia accepted by 2010.

Union expectations
Sports union of Slovenia as an initiator of the project is expecting general support with the development and implementation of the project from the government, local communities and members/partners of the project. This project in a long-term could be the key project for reassuring the competitiveness of an individual sport club.

Members/partners expectations
Public funds, European structural funds and other resources are supposed to support the members. So the members can expect free formation and realization of the programs for the qualification of professional workers, next also the financing of the renovation of their facilities, financing of the labor costs of their coordinators and common promotion and support
at networking.