Professional Sportive Training of People with Mental illness and Intellectual Developmental Disability in “The Game of Life” Program 2015ISAPA, Wingate,

Mifalot Education and Society Enterprises (“Mifalot”) Established Beyond Sport Prize ,000 participant s annually (of which 2,500 with special needs) First special needs team

Educational Rationale Education and rehabilitation through soccer!

Practice sessions Tournaments ODT Training & Seminars

Training players with special needs to become: Soccer coaches Assistant soccer coaches

Assistant Soccer Coach Program population intellectual development disorder (plus team coaches) Duration of training 2 ½ days Format theoretical and practical

Assistant Soccer Coach - Selected contents What makes a good assistant coach Developing practice routines Assistant coach job definition Peers training Working in harmony with the coach

O – OPPORTUNITIES T – TO R – RESPOND Creating as many opportunities as possible to practice (Greenwood, delquadri & Hall, 1984) Educational Approach

Rehabilitation Outcomes improved self-competence and self- esteem, empowerment Emotional peer-learning, modeling, positive leadership Practical changing perceptions among coaches, caregivers Social Impact

Conclusions Significant differences between pre and post test results in balance, which is an important preventive health outcome (EF=0.61) There was a trend toward improving Social affiliation (EF = 0.48) The lower the entry level, the larger the program impact

Soccer Coach Program population “Normative” men\women mental health disorders Duration of training 228 academic hours Format theoretical and practical

Soccer Coach Program - Selected contents Training techniques Physical studies coach job definition Sport as educational tool Professional soccer training

Challenges to Integration Academic Occupational Emotional Learning disabilities Little / Bad experience with learning

Challenges to Integration Academic Occupational Emotional Social anxiety Performance anxiety Physiological characteristics

Challenges to Integration Academic Occupational Emotional Integration of participants as Mifalot coaches

Rehabilitation Outcomes improved social and communication skills, self- image and self-competence, healthier lifestyle Emotional professional training, getting acquainted with the job market, steady income Occupational changing perceptions among team players and rehabilitation providers Social Impact

Findings Assessment instrument: SCS questionnaire - Measures self-control Self-control is defined as a set of skills that enables a person to cope with high pressure situations, painful emotions and disturbing thoughts (Rosenbaum, 1993)

Findings

Being a part of this program is a wonderful feeling I went through a process that was not easy…” I want to thank my tutor Naftali The training has given me faith and increased my self-confidence I gained a lot of deep knowledge

Thanks to: Ministry of Social affairs and Social services Ministry of Health National Insurance Institute of Israel Prof. Shayke Hutzler And you…