Partners
The project partners have been actively working with people with disabilities in the field of this sport for many years. Their experience in the field has led them to actively think about how to improve the quality of this sports offerings by strengthening their skills to design, plan and organise events and activities that foster integration between disabled and able-bodied people through joint sports activities with participants from both groups, which will also have a positive effect on promoting tolerance and fighting discrimination, while mitigating the stigma that currently afflicts people with disabilities.
ASM serves as the lead partner in this collaboration, which consists of the following organizations:
ACCADEMIA SCHERMA MILANO (ASM) - ITALY
ACCADEMIA SCHERMA MILANO is an organization dedicated to promoting and teaching Olympic Fencing to both children and adults. The academy has important affiliations with:
- Italian Fencing Federation (FIS)
- Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI)
- Italian Paralympic Committee
- Italian Federation of Paralympic Relational Sports
What makes Accademia Scherma Milano special is its commitment to inclusivity, offering fencing education to everyone regardless of physical or cognitive abilities. ASM has extensive experience working with disabled athletes and conduct several socially significant programs:
- Paralympic Wheelchair Fencing (in collaboration with CIP Lombardy)
- Fencing for the blind (partnered with Milan’s Blind Sports Group and Real Eyes Sport Association)
- Fencing for people with intellectual disabilities, including those with Down Syndrome and autism
- Fencing for physically and sensory disabled adolescents (serving as technicians at Bebe Vio Academy)
The academy also works with important welfare organizations at national and regional levels to develop inclusive fencing projects.
ASSOCIATION SPORTIVE BOUILLARGUES ESCRIME (ASBE) - FRANCE
Asbe has been involved in organising events for the visually impaired and people with motor disabilities since 2016. The organisation is affiliated with the French Federation of Handisport [FFH], from which it received a mention in 2015 and 2017 for its work with people with disabilities. The association organises international fencing courses and competitions for the disabled including:
- Introduction to fencing for visually impaired people
- Training of fencing masters and technical staff
- Organisation of team matches with mixed audiences (able-bodied and disabled people)
ASBE cooperates at national level with 2 associations connected to the world of disability, ARAMAV (which deals with visually impaired people) and UREOS (which deals with people who have been involved in car accidents), with whom it organises two fencing special events for the disabled every year (in March and April), with the support of a specific visually impaired trainer.
CLUB ESCOLA HUNGARESA DE ESGRIMA PONTEVEDRA (CEHEPO) - SPAIN
CEHEPO is an organisation founded in 2007 with the aim of promoting fencing in Galizia.
The organisation has the following objectives:
- Increasing the number of visually impaired fencers throughout Spain
- Increasing the number of fencing gyms offering fencing activities for the blind in Spain
- Obtaining the officiality and full recognition of fencing for the disabled in Spain through a specific sport federation
- Implementing a Spanish fencing championship for the blind recognised by the Spanish federation.
The Club is registered in the Galician Register of Sports Associations and Athletes and enjoys legal recognition by public institutions (Xunta de Galicia, Concello de Pontevedra). It is also fully integrated in the regional (Galician Fencing Federation – F.G.E.) and national (Royal Spanish Fencing Federation – R.F.E.E.) federations. Since 2012, the organisation has introduced fencing for the blind in Spain, holding the first trials in ONCE’s C.R.E. in Pontevedra. In 2021 CEHEPO organised the first international meeting of fencing for the blind in Spain, held in Pontevedra and with the participation of athletes, coaches and referees from five countries.
ASOCIATIA CLUBUL SPORTIV FORZA JUNIOR COSTULENI (ACSFJC) - ROMANIA
ACSFJC is an organisation established in 2014 with the aim of providing disadvantaged children with the opportunity to grow and socialise through sport. ACSFJC currently works with 5 communities of vulnerable groups, and through sports education, it trains young people from these groups in skills such as perseverance, self-education, team spirit and collaboration. In 8 years of experience, ACSFJC has meet over 500 children from vulnerable backgrounds and offered them the opportunity to improve their lives through sport. Thanks to ACSFJC’s work, every year 10 disadvantaged children manage to obtain scholarships in sports and/or contracts with national sports associations. From 2014 to 2020, the ACSFJC team focused on the inclusion of people with economic barriers and members of the Roma minority. The sports club worked on inclusion and non-formal education, using sports methodology as an educational tool to prepare the youth community for adult life. In addition to this, ACSFJC has helped high-performing young people enter the biggest sports clubs in Romania. Since 2021, it has opened a department for disability sport, focusing on sport for the blind. The organisation successfully implemented activities in goalball, showdown, torball, tandem, chess, football for the blind and contributed to the purchase of dedicated sports equipment for the disabled in its community. Since 2021, more than 200 people have been involved in the above-mentioned sports, 30 of whom are visually impaired; the activities carried out have involved both people with visual impairments and people without disabilities.
PHOENIX SOCIAL YOUTH CROUP - UKRAINE
The association was created by youth workers in the city of Cherkasy, Ukraine. It was funded with the aim to contribute to the social and personal development of young people. The Organization consists of twenty educated members of different ages, backgrounds and educational experiences, but united by one goal: empower local volunteers to discover their perfect international project, supporting them as they embark on transformative volunteering experiences abroad, whether for a brief stint or an extended commitment. The Association cooperates with local universities and schools also holding seminars for students at Cherkasy universities. Phoenix is open to all young people, especially people with fewer opportunities.
Main goals of the Organization:
- Non-formal education for young people
- Support free exchange of experience, knowledge and information in the field of education
- Dissemination of all branches of education and upbringing through seminars, lessons, online events
- Involve young people in active recreation and sports
- Help young people decide on a professional direction
- Involve people in art
- Professional development for aspiring journalists, with hands-on training in visual storytelling through video production, photography, expert editing techniques, and digital image enhancement using Photoshop
- Accustom young people to an ecological way of life