Reporting Action in Coimbra Acadêmica Association
The relevance of the Erasmus GAMES PLUS Project: traditional games for learning to teach, lies in the search to encourage the target populations involved, through the use of TSG in all its adaptive capacity and its dissemination as a means of promoting social inclusion and cultural diversity.
In this sense, the project carried out an action on April 3, 2024, in the Easter vacation program of the Academic Association of Coimbra, with the sports initiation students of the football modality at the Briosa XXI Academy in Coimbra.
The event was organized by the Coimbra team and had the participation of volunteer monitors, students and alumni of the Sports Sciences and Physical Education course at the University of Coimbra.
As it was a group with different ages (8 and 12 years old) and all of them practiced soccer, initially dynamics were carried out that were close to the context of the sport practiced by them.
This strategy aimed to get closer to the group of students to later present the games proposed by the project.
We made the presentation of the three games, namely: the Beto game (Portugal), the Bèlit game (Spain) and the Pljočkanje game (Croatia).
In the Bèlit game we made some adaptations before we introduced the bouncing objects, called Palos. We start with foam balls, being hit first with the hands and at a shorter distance.
Then, the challenge was proposed for the students to hit the ball so that it left the ground to later hit again, but using only their hands.
Then we introduced the batting materials (Palos), but without neglecting to use the foam balls.
In the Pljočkanje game, alternative materials and reduced distances were also used, making it easier to carry out the game, which resulted in more challenging situations for the students.
The contact with this game made the students expand their knowledge about the repertoire about the games that are part of different cultures.
In the Beto’s Game, the students also played at adapted distances and in ways to facilitate the experience with the practice of the game.
In this way, in yet another action, the project highlights the use of traditional games and all their unifying potential to provide practical and cultural diversity.