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Description
The aim of the project is to organize the motion activities for children, clients of the Archdiocesan Charity Košice - Crisis Center, as part of their leisure activities in the centre. The most of the children are from Roma families who are clients of the crisis center are in a difficult life situation. They are mostly people with a weak economic background and therefore with limited opportunities to provide children with diverse leisure activities that would benefit their development. Vaulting is a riding sport and offers children opportunity to improve social skills when working in a group and building responsibility towards living beings, as training also includes taking care of the horse before and after training. It will also improve their concentration and self-confidence. Trainings will take place 2 times a week and 20 children from the crises center will participate. Training courses will be completed with a public performance of the children to show what they have learned in the presence of parents, crisis center staff and the public.
Summary of project results
The project’s target group - children of the clients of a crisis centre have very limited options in terms of spending their leisure time. Activities and clubs, which are a standard for the general population, are almost inaccessible to these children due to the poor economic situation in their families. For children from disadvantaged backgrounds in particular, quality leisure time is very important for their healthy personal development, may help prevent crime, and offers a chance to establish new relationships with people outside their community. The objective of the project "Riding - Playful and Healthy" was to help children from the crisis centre with improving their physical fitness, building self-esteem, and encouraging good behaviour through sport and working with horses. As part of the project, a course of vaulting training was held for children and youth from the crisis centre aged 6 to 15 years at the CORNU ranch in Janovik. A total of 28 children participated in the course, 17 of them completed the whole course, and some of them left the crisis centre with which we cooperated during the course. We held 44 training sessions where the children were taught the basics of vaulting, handling and working with a horse, as well as the basics of teamwork. The project included a public competition performance, where the children showed what they had learned, had the opportunity to experience the competitive atmosphere, to fight stage fright, and to enjoy the feeling of an appreciated performance. A total of 151 people were involved in the project activities. The project was the winner of the "Sport is a Chance" competition of the Fair Play Club of the Slovak Olympic and Sports Committee and was therefore positively externally evaluated as well. The main purpose of the project was to show the children the magic of sport, of working with animals, and it also boosted their self-esteem. It was very positively perceived by the target group, which is a predictor that the children will continue the activities if circumstances allow it. The organisation will seek funding to continue these activities for children from disadvantaged backgrounds in the future as well.