The SportsCom project (Strengthening the effectiveness of COmmunity sports for health resilience in the framework of REgional policies), under Interreg Europe, with the AMP as a leading partner, was recently approved.

The consortium will also include partners from Belgium, Serbia, Greece, Poland, the Netherlands and Hungary.

The SportsCom concept considers an increasingly demanding lifestyle, which increases stress levels and problems of reconciling work and personal/family life, also facing an increasing gap in the relationship between younger and older generations, making young people, in particular, increasingly self-focused and more likely to establish relationships through social networks and virtual environments.

In this scenario, community sports are an important tool not only to generate physical resilience and promote the inclusion of marginalized communities, but also as a promoter of mental and community resilience. Therefore, a powerful tool to address the described challenges.

In this context, the concept of this project is to incorporate community sports into regional development policies with the purpose of creating healthier, cohesive and economically vibrant communities.

Thus the SportsCom project will support local and regional policies in strengthening the effectiveness of community sports on health resilience in the context of their current policies and strategies, giving partners an opportunity to learn from each other's practices and experiences to better harness the potential of community sports as key contributors to health resilience in their territories.

This is why the Metropolitan Executive Officer in charge of the sports field, Orlando Leal, participated in the Lead Partner Seminar and the Interregional Cooperation Forum that took place in Krakow from 18 to 20 March. In addition to the formative context of the events he was also able to share experiences, as well as to meet with some of the partners of this and other projects of metropolitan interest.