SafeShred October Update

“I think it is a good thing for our young riders to become more aware about these topics that are so important when it comes to sexual harassment and bullying, that could absolutely be occurring in our sport. If we start with the younger ages now, we will do ourselves a favor for the future”, Jocke Hammar, Swedish Ski Association (SSA).

“I think it is very important because it gives tools for the youth on how to act on different situations”, Satu Jarvela, WSF President.

The first in-person Transnational Project Meeting of the SafeShred project took place in Zurich, on September 24th. The WSF General Assembly was a great opportunity to share the objectives and first results of SafeShred with the rest of the world snowboard community but it was mainly the occasion for participants to acknowledge the project achievements, plan the coming activities, adjust the timeline and align the outcomes to the expectations of the snowboard field.

Participants realized all the work that had been conducted since the project was launched, although they never before sat around the same table. To begin with, the Foundation for Sport Integrity (Stitching CSCF), represented by Carlos Gutierrez and Norbert Rubicsek, gave the results of the Fact-Finding Missions (FFM) in which 38 people were interviewed in six different countries. The most prevalent issues were related to the whistleblowing system and basic human rights, but other ethical topics addressed in the project remained important for the snowboard associations: doping, harassment/bullying, corruption, and manipulation of sports competition. The partnerships discussed the most relevant target groups for each project outcome: the Riders’ Guide will tackle the lack of knowledge among the adults (riders, trainers, managers, staff) and equip them to talk about these topics with young riders, while the Training for Riders and the E-learning Program will focus on the grassroots riders at a very young age. 

The academic partner was also able to join the meeting online from Spain. Rachel Mirabet from the Ramon Llull University provided an overview of the Desk Research, which gathers the existing regulations and policies in the countries of the partnership. She also walked the partner through a survey that will be spread among riders across Europe to analyze their understanding on the different ethical topics and eventually adapt the curriculum to their needs.

This meeting came right on point to further motivate all participants in designing sustainable tools to educate riders to recognize harmful situations and how to prevent them. Stay tuned for the coming up SafeShred activities!

Project Manager Erasmus+:
Boris Kilvinger
boris@worldsnowboardfederation.org 

Project Coordinator:
Floriane Poncet
floriane@worldsnowboardfederation.org 

SafeShred is a program co-financed by the Erasmus+ program of the European Union.