Stop children and youth injuries with a particular focus on female athletes
project start date: 01.05.2022
project end date: 31.10.2024
Project Partners
Project Description
The SONAR project’s primary objective is to enhance grassroots sports’ coaches’ educational & training skills on monitoring and preventing sports injuries in children and adolescents, with a particular focus on female athletes.
Indeed, research proves that many injuries treated in the EU hospitals relate to children aged between 10 to 21 years old and are caused by sports activities. Although sports practice has many health benefits associated, stakeholders acknowledge that the education of coaches, athletes, and families about the best practices and habits to prevent injuries is still insufficient.
To address this problem, the partnership proposes the development of the SONAR Umbrella Tool, a holistic approach encompassing a web-based Injury Surveillance System (ISS), an online educational program for sports coaches, and awareness-raising content on injury prevention for athletes & parents.
The project will start with a diagnosis phase to understand the needs of the target groups and, based on them, will build the different elements of the umbrella Tool. During the pilot test phase, up to 350 coaches from different sports disciplines will be educated & trained on the most efficient Injury Prevention Protocols and the appropriate ways to enforce them, and 400 of these coaches will start using the ISS; this means that approximately 4,000 athletes will be under the radar of this surveillance tool. As regards athletes & parents, 2,500 of them will be positively impacted by awareness-raising audio-visual content (comic books & videos on social media). SONAR will assess the pilot test to capture feedback and data from the target groups, and from here, draw policy conclusions and recommendations to be published in top specialized journals.
SONAR is a transnational partnership covering 7 European countries led by the University of Vic (Spain) and combining solid academic organizations in themic organizations in the field of injury prevention with European multisport clubs.
News from the project
Deliverables
Explore the SONAR project, including the e-learning platform and Injury Surveillance System, on the official website: www.sonarinjuries.eu
Priručnik
SONAR priručnik je praktični vodič za prevenciju ozljeda u sportu mladih, sadrži strategije temeljene na dokazima, edukativne alate za trenere i protokole za smanjenje ozljeda. Podržava sigurnije sportsko okruženje i dugoročno zdravlje mladih sportaša.
Strip
SONAR-ov strip edukativni je alat namijenjen mladim sportašima koji kroz zabavne priče i prepoznatljive likove uči o prevenciji ozljeda. Na jednostavan i pristupačan način promovira sigurno bavljenje sportom.
Handbook
The SONAR handbook is a practical guide for injury prevention in youth sports, offering evidence-based strategies, educational tools for coaches, and protocols for minimizing injuries. It supports safer sports environments and the long-term health of young athletes.
Comic Book
