Training Course 'Sport4Development' 15-23 July 2026, Rettenegg, Austria

Experience on Erasmus+ Training Course Sport4Development by Iva Babic

The main goal of this training course was to gain valuable insights into inclusion in sports and how to adapt them for everyone, while learning about Austrian culture by immersing ourselves in the countryside- in a small village located between Vienna and Graz, in the village of Rettenegg.

While the trainers were there to teach us all the important things about this topic, there were participants from North Macedonia, Serbia, Italy, Turkey, the Czech Republic and Austria who contributed by sharing their own knowledge and experiences. As a tool for non-formal learning we had workshops in which we had the opportunity with our trainers to spread awareness about how we can include people with any type of disability in a game or sport, and develop competencies to teach other people how we can make sure that everyone has equal chances to play.

Over the course of six days filled with workshops in which we not only got to learn new things, but also to learn something new about each other, we worked in groups, practiced teamwork and got the chance to make our own workshops and put our plan into action. In these interactive and practical sessions after learning general things about topic, we also simulated different disabilities so we could understand them better. One important activity that helped us with this was visiting a wheelchair basketball club in Graz where we got the chance to see a real profesional play, and got to try it ourselves. After expanding our knowledge in a new way, we got the rest of the day to visit Graz and learn about the city and culture.

The main focus of this training course was learning about new topic with like-minded people, but we could not miss the part in which we were learning about each other individually, but also learning about each other’s tradition and culture, so everyone got the chance to present their country.

After a special week in Rettenegg, we can all say that our trainers did a phenomenal job in expanding our horizons because we are all going home with more knowledge than we came with, more understanding and more friends than we came with.