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Urban Youth Games 2021: Inclusive playbooks, events and a digital challenge
After a particularly successful first edition in 2019, the Urban Youth Games wanted to continue that momentum with another edition in 2020. Due to the corona crisis, the organisers were forced to temporarily shelve those plans. Nevertheless, behind the scenes, the organisation has continued to work on an expansion programme to promote inclusion among young people through sport.
In addition to annual mass events, the organisation will launch “inclusive playbooks”. These booklets will allow gym teachers to promote inclusion among children of the fifth and sixth grades throughout the school year.
In addition to these inclusive playbooks, the Urban Youth Games will launch a hybrid programme in September to give youngsters perspective and hope. For six weeks, real-life events will be complemented by the digital challenge “On Your Marks”. With this programme, the organisation wants to kick off a sporty, positive and inclusive school year.
This unique challenge allows a wide array of activities for children to choose from, ranging between sports, physical, cultural, artistic and social activities. These activities aren’t just fun, they can also benefit their school. Teachers or adults can register the children’s results in the app. Each completed activity allows children to collects points, these points can then be traded in for sports equipment for their school or a meet-and-greet with an ambassador during one of the live events.
These six live events will take place every Friday between 24 September and 29 October in Molenbeek, Ghent and the province of Liège (two per location). The events are scalable so that we can respond flexibly to the prevailing security measures.
In the different projects of the Urban Youth Games, the values of inclusion, respect, fair play and open-mindedness are always central. These values contribute to inclusion and help break down social and cultural barriers.
