Congratulations to the Get WET project partners as their project has been selected as a success story by a panel of experts from the Directorate – General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture of the European Commission.
“Success stories are finalised projects that have distinguished themselves by their impact, contribution to policy-making, innovative results and/or creative approach and can be a source of inspiration for others. The selection of this project as a success story was made on the basis of rigorous criteria regarding its quality, relevance and results.”
The project has been marked as “success story” in the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform.
The overall aim of the project was to encourage increased health enhancing physical activity especially for those at risk at social and economic isolation through the use of water based sport and activities. It involved collaborative working at a local, national and European level to promote opportunities for long term sustainable engagement in sport and physical activities in, or adjacent to water. The project also aimed to promote the value and importance of watersports through promotion of water based activities during the European Week of Sport.
The key outputs from the project were as follows:
1. A joint brand that promotes Watersports was developed and continues to be used by all of the partners and also other organisations to help promote water sports and the #BEactive European Week of Sport message.
2. A website has been created that promotes the project, opportunities and engagement in water based sports and this provides a legacy to the project. Furthermore it provides a single point of reference for all of the watersports federations in the 28 EU member states www.beactive-getwet.eu
3. A Facebook account and Twitter account have been created that promote the project and continue to highlight watersports events and opportunities as well as sharing key information on watersports in general
4. A series of taster and try it events were provided by clubs and activity providers throughout the summer season in 2016 across the 6 partner countries that engaged 5468 participants with a range of water based sports. The target number to be involved in these events was 2500 and so the project exceeded the target by over double the numbers. the sports that people engaged with included: a. Angling b. canoe and kayaking c. Hydro-speed d. Kite surfing e. Open water swimming f. Rowing (including traditional rowing) g. Sailing h. Stand up paddle boarding i. Surfing j. Sub aqua Many of these programmes and activities were repeated in 2017 and 2018 without any additional funding which demonstrated an effective legacy to the project. The partnership and others are also developing the concept of a Get WET weekend in the summer that focuses on promotion of a range of watersports activities on the last weekend of July
5. 7 follow up flotilla events (called “SPLASH” events) were held for those who have had initial taster sessions during EWOS in conjunction with local clubs that had 2160 participants involved. These were held on major waterways to try to derive media interest in the sports.
6. A seminar in Brussels took place in March 2017 involving 41 delegates from 14 countries to share learning and gain feedback on the toolkit and the EU Sport Unit were involved in this seminar
7. A toolkit that has been created following surveys to both participants and coaches to support the development of Watersports. The initial draft of the toolkit was sent to a wide range of stakeholders across Europe for a broad consultation before being finalised. It was launched in September 2017 at the nature and Sports Euro’meet in La Seu D’Urgell during European Week of Sport. The toolkit is available to download from the www.beactive-getwet.eu website
8. The toolkit has been sent to every Ministry of Sport in Europe and to all of the federations for watersports in all 28 member states.
The recognition by the European Commission is testament to the work that went into the project from all of the partners and also to the clubs, activity providers, coaches and leaders who helped with the programmes. Without the many volunteers and supporters the project could never have been successful.
So thanks for all your work and continue to Get WET.