PsyTool — Developing Tools for Sport Educators

An EU-funded educational programme training coaches, referees and teachers to use sport psychology against violence, discrimination and intolerance.

PsyTool — Developing Tools for Sport Educators — is built on the idea that the adults closest to young athletes are best placed to prevent violence, discrimination and intolerance in sport. The EU-funded programme trains coaches, referees and teachers to use the tools of sport psychology to do so.

It was launched in February 2016 with universities and sport organisations across seven European countries — among them Pablo de Olavide University, the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the University of the Balearic Islands, Halmstad University, Sapienza University of Rome and the University of Lisbon. The breadth of the partnership allowed the programme to draw on research and practice from different sporting cultures across Europe.

PsyTool develops performance models adapted to young grassroots participants who are particularly vulnerable to violence and discrimination, including women, immigrants and members of ethnic minorities, and produces training modules and a web-based educational platform. The aim is to make integrity part of everyday coaching and teaching, rather than something addressed only after an incident.

Photo: The PsyTool project banner.

PROJECT FACTS