On 18th and 19th June the STICK Project held its second consortium meeting in Nottingham. The meeting was hosted by the UK partners: Beeston Hockey Club and Nottingham Trent University.
The Erasmus+ STICK project (Sport and Academic Talent Integration through Exchange Programmes in Hockey) aims to design a comprehensive exchange programme that would allow high performance athletes to combine their sport activities at high level, together with the opportunity to take part in an Erasmus+ academic mobility programme.
This meeting gave all partners (Atlètic Terrassa Hockey Club and Autonomous University of Barcelona from Spain, Dragons Hockey Club and University of Antwerp from Belgium, Rotterdam Hockey Club and Erasmus Rotterdam University from The Netherlands, Pembroke Hockey Club and Dublin City University from Ireland and the host institutions, Nottingham Trent University and Beeston Hockey Club) the opportunity to discuss the results obtained from the activities that have been taking place since the last meeting in Barcelona in February.
Beeston Hockey Club conducted a survey of top hockey clubs and universities in the five participating countries to establish the current state of affair and whether the project is feasible. The club concluded resoundingly that the project has real value. The results of the two surveys were presented to the consortium on the first day of the meeting.
Focus Groups with hockey players with various academic and sporting circumstances were conducted in each country. The purpose of these focus groups was to get to know the difficulties encountered when applying for an Erasmus+ scholarship and trying to combine it with high level sport.
The discussions at consortium level have allowed the STICK Project to arrive at some important conclusions; an assessment of the current state: the athlete student’s needs, the clubs’ needs, the universities and Erasmus+ exchange programmes needs, and how to combine all these needs and requirements in order to find a feasible solution that would allow them to combine their dual career (academic and sport) exchange.
This study will be the base for the joint design of a hockey/academic exchange programme, which the consortium will start working on over the coming months.
The next meeting will be held in Rotterdam at the beginning of November 2018.
Categories: Beeston Hockey Club
