Introduction

Numbers never lie!

Although the advantages of FFS are uncountable for everyone involved in this process, whether it is children and families or the sports clubs themselves or the bigger community as the final receiver of change and improvement, apparently the number of organized sports clubs that actually involve such activities in their program on a regular basis, allows a lot of space for improvement. Within the framework of the project “Family-friendly Sports”, financed by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union (under which this Guide is also conducted), the statistical research “Capacity of Sports Clubs For Family Friendly Practices” has been conducted, with the involvement of almost 70 sports clubs from four different European countries: Spain, North Macedonia, Serbia and Greece, which showed strong interest in family-friendly activities. The main goal of the research was to learn more about the capacities of sports clubs to implement family-friendly activities and practices. According to the data collected in this research, there is still almost a 45 % of the respondents who either implement some random FFS activity once per year, or they do not implement any FFS activity at all. Despite this somewhat disappointing result though, the research has shown that sports clubs are very willing to incorporate FFS activities in their programs even more (either by organizing them as coordinators or participating jointly with other clubs), as around 45% of them rated their interest as very high and another 48% moderate to high. This information proves that sports clubs in general appear to have a positive approach to the FFS world which is constantly growing and gaining more followers!

Although we have discussed the benefits and advantages of FFS activities for all target groups, it is rather important to also acknowledge that the most delicate and sensitive target group here is guardians – family members. It is not only about the long distance they may have developed with physical activities while growing up due to the hectic adult life and day-to-day time consuming responsibilities, but also the emotional and practical restraints they might feel when invited to rejoin. To be more precise, some of those weak points could be:

lack of time – being overloaded with many tasks and heavy responsibilities in everyday life (either of professional or household and family nature), adults suffer from time shortage throughout the day and their participation in some entertaining sports initiative appears to be a luxury they cannot afford.
lack of interest – as a second consequence of the hectic lifestyle, when adults are so overburdened with must-do tasks, they appear rather reluctant to add an extra “must” to their daily program. Therefore, they are often reluctant to invest time and effort in some additional direction.
cost of activities – finances are every adult’s nightmare, and who could blame them? Therefore, getting involved in some extra activity that might somehow affect the family budget, is definitely a decision that needs extra thought.
social anxiety – the more we grow up, the merrier we are fearful of what “the world will say”. Definitely, entering the sports arena after many years of absence, brings up a little fear of exposure, as well as stressful thoughts about whether or how one will be criticized.
lack of opportunities and initiatives – either it is lack of promotion by the providers or lack of interest to search for opportunities by adults, the latter may face some hard times finding the right place, the right time and the right chance to be involved in FFS activities

Yes, these challenges you should always keep in mind and take into consideration when planning and organizing your next FFS initiative, however everything can be resolved! And this Guide will show you how to help guardians – family members get rid of many of those reservations.

It appears, though, that guardians are not the only ones facing some difficulties when trying to enter the FFS world. Sports clubs also have to deal with their own challenges, as it normally happens in any new, unknown initiative, let alone one which combines children and adults at the same time! Some of those hardships, are related to:

practical difficulties – such as financial barriers, time limitations in training hours, lack of suitable and available sports facilities and adequate equipment etc.
lack of interest from the target groups – especially the adults, provided that children and young athletes are their main target group per se, and are anyway involved in their other regular sports activities.
lack of knowledge and skills – despite how well trained a sports club’s staff might be in their regular activities, implementing daily friendly sports activities is indeed a different chapter that requires specific training and a slightly different approach. And this is what they normally lack.
lack of concrete methodologies – understanding the FFS concept, envisioning an FFS approach, planning an FFS activity and actually implementing one are totally different things. In order to make it happen SUCCESSFULLY, one needs to apply FFS methodologies based on concrete FFS structures planned and defined in detail. And this can sometimes be a demanding task.

practical difficulties – such as financial barriers, time limitations in training hours, lack of suitable and available sports facilities and adequate equipment etc.
lack of interest from the target groups – especially the adults, provided that children and young athletes are their main target group per se, and are anyway involved in their other regular sports activities.
lack of knowledge and skills – despite how well trained a sports club’s staff might be in their regular activities, implementing daily friendly sports activities is indeed a different chapter that requires specific training and a slightly different approach. And this is what they normally lack.
lack of concrete methodologies – understanding the FFS concept, envisioning an FFS approach, planning an FFS activity and actually implementing one are totally different things. In order to make it happen SUCCESSFULLY, one needs to apply FFS methodologies based on concrete FFS structures planned and defined in detail. And this can sometimes be a demanding task.

No need to worry though! This Guide is going to help you improve your FFS profile and guide you through a lot of interesting and helpful aspects, offer you solutions and explain a few blurry points, in order to support you in this process. But…wait a minute! What did we say this Guide is all about??