A French organization, PLAY International got involved in a PLAY’In project that promotes a greater inclusion of children with disabilities and was implemented in 2019. The PLAY International is an organization that aims to raise awareness and educate children by means of physical activities, games or sports. The organization has already had success in such projects earlier and this project is implemented similarly to its earlier project. PLAY’In has its aim to train professionals, educators and facilitators in order to promote an inclusive environment in sports for children aged 6-12 years. The project is divided to three phases which are:
- To raise awareness about disabilities and reduce discrimination of children with disabilities
- Encouraging and supporting children with disabilities in sports
- Creating mixed sports for children with and without disabilities
PLAY’In also aims to bring together 8 stakeholders from different European countries to contribute to this project. It is believed that a cultural diversity is required for the project to be innovative and successful. Moreover, the fact that sports is suggested to be means of educating instead of competition is another advantage of this project. Combining pedagogy and sports helps children to feel engaged as a part of a group and improves communication skills. Yet, there is one limitation of the project which is the lack of common lexicon for European countries when talking about disabilities. It is also recommended to not separate children by types of disabilities but rather by the adaptations necessary to be made in sports.