The educational potential inherent in sport activity is universally recognized, but we know well that there is no automatic cause-effect consequentiality. There is a vision that tends to divide the pedagogically good from the negative sport based on the dichotomy between the playful element and the competitive element. Is the competitive aspect itself negative from an educational point of view? Is it possible to progress towards a more harmonious vision?
These were the questions on which an intense dialogue developed, enriched by the interculturality of the participants (from Argentina, Brazil, Germany and Italy) of the Sportmeet IX Summer School held from 12 to 14 July in Loppiano (FI). Gennaro Testa, sports sociologist at the University of Florence, had the task of starting the work with an engaging and passionate broad-spectrum speach on the potential of sport in its various models. The importance of the “invisible” dimension of sport emerged: its values, the skills that can be developed, their “transferability” to everyday life. Starting from these bases, the challenge of overcoming the dichotomy between competitive sport and playful sport had been outlined, with the experimentation of new forms and training methods, starting from a harmonious vision that takes into consideration action, the cognitive element and emotions. It is the vision that Scholas Occurrentes is developing with the Futval project on which Mario Delverme has launched a beautiful request, making use of a compelling football-freestyle training simulation, thanks to the expertise of Gianluca Lombardi, which has given rise to interesting prospects of the street football model, with its capability of technical and value development.
Fifteen years after the start of the Sports4Peace experience, the rich dialogue of the first day constituted a basis of significant solicitations also for a sort of “time-out” on the project, in the presence of its creator Alois Hechenberger, Austrian, sports educator. It was an opportunity to start a new phase, taking advantage of the positive contributions, of the opportunity to deepen the scientific aspects, and in the light of the important experiences carried out, including the recent developments in some countries of East Africa.
