Balasa Andreea-Mihaela

Education through sport (ETS) and Non Formal Education (NFE) Experiences

In the past five years of Erasmus+ experience, I consider one of the most rewarding positions for me was being a group leader. Besides the responsibility and the care for your team, you usually learn more than when you are a trainer or participant. For example, when the group has a problem, you have to find a solution. It’s important for team building not to leave the problem unsolved. Let’s say it is how it is…

We had pain in the group – because of the exclusion of the people who weren’t good at sports. The group was focused on winning each match and each play. So when they knew each other better, a more decisive part of the team spotted who was better and weaker at sport, and the weaker part of the group was outside. Let’s say they were bullied. They didn’t want to play with them, and also the others laughed at them, and so on. I decided to find a way to do something to change the situation. I was older than them and more experienced with team building, so I decided to use the NFE using hiking as a method of gamification, creating a team building that was unique and challenging was equal for every person. Why? Because all people have a challenge.

Everyone had to adapt themselves to the group. The most challenging part was creating a way of walking that fit all the participants. For all the people to be together, both for those in better shape and also for the other part of the group, to not to get frustrated each other. The second part stimulated the team not to give up and work together. The combination of physical and mental work made a difference in the learning process. This might seem like an easy task, but it was actually a fantastic opportunity for teamwork and also for creating healthy habits throughout the project and even more.