The Promoting Physical Activity and Health in Sports Clubs working group of HEPA Europe
The HEPA Europe Network is a WHO network which aims to provide a forum for the advancement of health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA) research, policy and practice across the WHO European Region. Under this network, a working group is dedicated. This working group is open to any individual or organisation that would be interested in collaborating with almost 20 others fellows on following objectives:
Sports clubs, the backbone of the sports movement, can make an important contribution at both individual and community level. Participation in organized sports encourages not only low levels of physical activity in Europe, but also provides important social, mental and physical health benefits. Moreover, organized sports can contribute to enhancing the social and economic capital of cities and nations. Taking health and HEPA promotion into account could help sports organizations to diversify their activities and welcome new participants.
The main objectives of the working group will be defined by the participants at HEPA Europe 2023.
The working group has worked on building the evidence base for health-promoting sports clubs and sports federations, and its members are involved in sport for development, sport for all, and sport dropout prevention projects. The working group has presented symposium or workshops in different conferences, like the HEPA conference, the Nordic Health Promotion Research Conference, the European Public Health Conference, TAFISA World Congress.
The working group is meeting bi-monthly online, in addition to a face-to-face meeting each year at the HEPA Europe conference. During these one-hour meeting, ideas or results of projects are presented, funding and conference presentation opportunities are discussed.
To join this activity, please contact HEPA Europe at hepaeurope@who.int.
The group is co-led by Aurelie Van Hoye (aurelie.van-hoye@univ-lorraine.fr), University of Lorraine, France, and Susanna Geidne (susanna.geidne@oru.se), Örebro University, Sweden. The working group closely collaborates with the European part of The Association For International Sport for All (TAFISA), the European Sports NGO (ENGSO), the International Sport and Culture Association (ISCA), and the European Federation for Company Sport (EFCS).
