Erasmus+
“This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein”
The PReventive Outreach Through Exercise and Counseling Techniques in Soccer (PROTECTS) project is based on the interdisciplinary approach and its aim is to focus on the area of “protecting athletes –especially the youngest– from health and safety hazards by improving training and competition conditions”. The main goal of PROTECTS project is to create an open educational innovative approach for Soccer Injury Prevention Strategies while fostering counselling and communication skills related to football training, providing key techniques that could function as a “toolkit” for the modern football athletes and exercise experts (coaches and athletic trainers).
In particular, PROTECTS will identify the gaps in the strategies used for the prevention of musculoskeletal injuries in soccer and recognizing that soccer players and coaches operate with interplay of thoughts, feelings, physiology, and actions, it will propose specific exercise drills through a concomitant cultivation of counselling and communication skills contributing in this way in a safer participation to soccer and sports.
Under this prism, partners from different countries with transdisciplinary approach were selected:
DUTH’s HEI’s staff (GREECE), with knowledge and skills in sport rehabilitation, soccer prevention programs implementation and in counselling and communication skills
AUTH’s HEI’s staff (GREECE), with knowledge and skills in sport physiotherapy, soccer prevention programs implementation and in sport psychology
SMAC clinical members (CYPRUS) with knowledge and skills in sports medicine and exercise science
XANTHI FC’s staff (GREECE), and its male soccer athletes (GREECE), with experience in soccer training and games
Football Academy Plovdiv and its young soccer athletes (BULGARIA), with experience in soccer training and games
In conclusion, being in accordance with the saying of the Greek physician Hippocrates (460-370 BC) who said that “preventing is better than treating”, PROTECTS project aims to actively contribute at the prevention of musculoskeletal injuries in sports offering a massive open online course for the protection of all athletes (especially the youngsters) enhancing the knowledge and increasing the awareness of all soccer involved specialists as regards the role of preventive strategies, upgrading them at the same time with proper counselling and communication skills.
Erasmus+
“This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.”
