Blue Team: The Story of a Special Team
Gabriele Casoretti, Lorenza Bocchi, Angela Russo, Roberto Padovani
We present the Blue Team Project, a basketball activity adapted for children and adolescents with autism and/or an intellectual disability, which started in Modena in 2009. The project arose from the collaboration between sports clubs and the Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Service (Modena Local Health Unit), which manages participants and provides a clinical operator to support the coach. Over time, the Blue Team Project has involved about 100 participants with an age range going from primary school to upper secondary school (6-17 years of age). The objectives of the project refer to different dimensions, regarding individual development and mental health: (1) motor learning and coordination, (2) personal and adaptive skills, (3) social participation and quality of life. Consistent with a wide range of current scientific literature, physical and sporting activity is assuming increasing importance in the management of people with autism/disability, both in a strictly rehabilitative sense and in relation to improving quality of life.
Keywords
Autism, Intellectual disability, Disability and sport, Basketball, Inclusion.
