The project team comprises Dr Laura Purdy, Edge Hill University, UK; Dr Melanie Lang, Edge Hill University, UK; and Dr Rutenis Paulauskas, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania. Dr Purdy is the project lead, and the study was funded by an Institute of Social Responsibility Award.
Period: March 2022 – February 2023
Sports organisations have a legal and moral duty of care to deliver a safe sports environment, promote positive sport practices, and mitigate against and manage potential harm to sports participants of all ages. However, little is known about how athletes themselves understand athlete welfare. This project encouraged Lithuanian athletes’/young peoples’ active involvement in promoting positive sport environments and protect themselves (and others) from harmful sport practices. 17 university student-athletes from sport-related degrees in Lithuania took part in one week of workshops about ‘safe sport’ and created and disseminated related campaigns to sports clubs in their nation. An empirical study running alongside the project explored their understandings of ‘safe sport’ and the welfare issues relevant to them.
This project was supported by an Institute for Social Responsibility Award.