The program, designed by a group of experts in the fields of psychology, education and sport, and by academics studying the processes of radicalization, will begin a trial period next September in a hockey group. The trial activities will take place in Terrassa, with the active participation of the Catalan Hockey Federation and the City Council of the city of Vallès.
SPEY, a European project with 7 partners from 8 different countries, is led by the UFEC and co-financed by the European Commission, aims to create and develop this social and sport program to prevent the process of adopting any type of extremist attitude and/or behaviour among young people. Also, through the application of the scientific method, it wants to develop evaluation indicators capable of measuring the efficiency of extremism prevention programs and a manual of good practices that can serve as a useful tool for other countries from the rest of Europe.
Currently, the International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education, ICSSPE, has reviewed the existing literature concerning different projects and initiatives that have already taken place across Europe. In parallel, researchers from the University of Córdoba are evaluating the activities of the program. That is, everything is ready for participants to test the program this September in Terrassa. Following the hockey group trial, a basketball trial will take place in Badalona (late 2020), and finally a football trial will take place early 2021, in Sant Adrià del Besós.
Should any entities be interested in participating in the project, they can contact the UFEC via e-mail spey@ufec.cat