Football is Inclusion: Super Calcio crowns a memorable first year

The Football Is Inclusion project has completed its first season with the staging of the third Super Calcio summer festival, which brought to a close the related summer activities organised and promoted by the San Marino Football Federation. The programme, launched in the summer of 2021, has opened its doors to everyone who wants to play football and do sport and, over the course of the season just ended, twelve boys and girls with cognitive and relational disabilities were officially registered and took part in activities at grassroots football hubs and with San Marino Academy. The FSGC Educational Coaches have guided the inclusion process, maintaining constant contact with the coaches involved in the programme, with families and with all the youngsters, with and without disabilities. For the first time, families of young people with disabilities were able to enrol their children in the Bianco Azzurro Camp as well as in the Bianco Azzurri Summer Centres, making it possible for them to enjoy a sports holiday like – and alongside – their peers. Over the two weeks of Super Calcio, which involved more than 30 boys and girls, we tested and further confirmed how football without barriers is possible not only from a social perspective, but also – and above all – as a way of developing future athletes who are more complete and higher-performing. We therefore wish to thank the families, who have shown great sensitivity and support, and above all all the youngsters who – if any proof were still needed – have brought onto the pitch all those values that colour sport: friendship, fairness, respect, competition and fun.

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