V4 Winter Games Emil Open

The Games are a unique international sport and social gathering of young people with disabilities. The project corresponds to the main focus area Social development and its objective Promoting a healthy and active lifestyle and reduction of addictive substance abuse with focus on young people with disabilities. It also aims at objective Promote social inclusion mindset, especially through sports for the disabled. Children and young people with disabilities can feel excluded from society, because they have limited opportunities for self-realization, hobbies or meeting new friends. It is proven that the way young people spend their leisure time has a major impact on their physical health and the prevention of socially pathological phenomena.

Sport is an ideal leisure time activity which provides opportunity to participate in a group or in a community. It is a way to improve physical abilities, strengthen mental and physical health and relax. In a social sense, the public sees sport as a tool to promote values such as discipline, fair play, friendship, effort and team spirit. However, access to sport for disabled people is often complex. According to our experience, we defined main weaknesses in access to sport for people with disabilities: more difficult access to sport for disabled people; opportunities for access to sport decrease with the higher level of disabilities; different level of experience among organizations and countries; only a few tournaments for less experienced athletes and small awareness of sports and hobbies suitable for disabled people.