site.btaBulgarian Olympic Committee, Bulgarian Red Cross to Teach Trainers to Work with Refugees

The Bulgarian Olympic Committee (BOC) and the Bulgarian Red Cross are organizing a three-day training event as part of the SportCoach+ project of the International Olympic Committee and the International Red Cross. The event will be launched at the National Sports Academy Vassil Levski here on Tuesday.

The main goal of the project is to support the mental health and psychosocial well-being of people aged between 10 and 24 through sport.

The focus is on young refugees and internally displaced persons from Ukraine and their host communities. The project will provide sports coaches with the knowledge and skills to create a safe and supportive environment and to recognize and respond to trauma in an informed way. The skills gained will also be applicable to working with at-risk children and youth as well as other marginalized groups.

Once the specialists complete their training, they will conduct group sessions for trainers working with representatives of the target group. The ORF's ambition is to train 300 Bulgarian trainers. The BOC is committed to cooperate with the Bulgarian sports federations in order to identify coaches to be trained.

The project is scheduled to finish by the end of the year with a possible upgrade in 2025.