Sport projects promoting youth social inclusion: the case of Polisportiva Laureus

Polisportiva Laureus is a project by Laureus Italia Foundation promoted in the city of Milano. The project is addressed to young people (from 6 to 17 years old) living in the suburbs in disadvantaged economic situations. In this way sport becomes a tool of intervention in the social work with young people to promote wellness and prevent degenerative behaviors and the risk of social exclusion. In addition to this, the project Polisportiva aims also to trigger off positive changes into the community in which activities are proposed. The following work firstly aims to present the project organization, which consist of specific sport training sessions (such as football, volleyball, basketball and rugby) and fringe psycho-pedagogical activities (during group sessions). Each team is monitored by a staff composed by a trainer, an educator and a psychologist. They work together in order to promote sport activities using a specific psycho-pedagogical focus. They also work strictly connected with the local educational services that are supporting young people of the project in other areas (school, family, medical assistance, etc.) . In collaboration with Catholic University it has been planned a longitudinal multi-method research design in order to understand if taking part at the Polisportiva promote social inclusion and how it happens. Some outcomes of this research represent guidelines for the staff who daily works with young people, for this reason they will be presented. Finally critical issues and potentialities of the project will be highlighted to open up to new evolutions.