Snaitech Foundation partners with ChangeTheGame to create a safer and more inclusive environment in the sports world

Trying to improve yourself and establish a relationship of respect with your coach and your teammates is a healthy way to experience sport as fun, leisure, commitment, passion. Of course, competition is a fundamental factor of sport, as is the emotional involvement that a match or a competition triggers in us. But those who have the responsibility to train must be aware that they are contributing first and foremost to the growth of children and young people. A goal to be pursued without exerting excessive pressure.​

Unfortunately, the data indicate that in Italy 4 out of 10 people who have practised sports at a young age have suffered abuse or interpersonal violence at least once and few have sought help. For this reason, the Snaitech Foundation and the ChangeTheGame association have joined forces to promote an athlete-friendly sports environment with a concrete initiative. Thanks to the meeting of these two realities with La Sapienza University of Rome, the first “psychological counselling desk” aimed at sportsmen and sportswomen who have been subject to violence and abuse has come to life. ​

For Snaitech Foundation, sport is an extraordinary tool for inclusion, growth and sharing, and for this reason it has decided to give a concrete and tangible sign so that every athlete can feel truly valued and protected, striving to build a future in which sport is synonymous with respect, safety and sharing for all.​

Located within the psychology department of the Roman university, the desk is designed to allow athletes to meet and discuss with competent figures, accessing a support and listening service free of charge.​

“The process of victimisation is very articulated and often includes aspects that concern the loss of one’s ability to claim an active and proactive role in relationships and the devaluation of one’s own resources and characteristics. For this reason, counselling paths are not limited to the analysis of traumatic experiences, but actively seek out the possibility of reintegrating people into their natural path of self-determination and recovering their personal and social effectiveness”, says Fabio Lucidi, a PhD in psychology at the Sapienza University who also directs the technical-scientific committee on diversity and inclusion and the sports psychology laboratory.​

“This help, listening and support desk marks a great step forward in terms of protection actions,” says Giulia Pairone, a professional tennis survivor and ChangeTheGame volunteer. “In Italy, 4 out of 10 athletes suffer a form of violence. Most of these victims develop problems of a psychophysical nature, leaving or abandoning sport and they are left to their own devices to emerge from the darkness of their pain. As a survivor of violence, I know well that sense of loneliness and abandonment, that deep wound that is left behind and I know that it is also through the care of qualified and prepared people that you can begin to see the light. This service seeks to be a safe space for victims, a space where a process of being able to process and understand the event can take place, and a personal rebirth will follow”.​