Building on BESST 1.0 (Building European Safe Sport Together) after its successful completion, the European Olympic Academies (EOA) is now in the midst of engagig in BESST 2.0. This time, the focus lies on the use of Virtual Reality (VR) in the context of Safe Sport. VR is becoming more and more important in today’s societies – and we aim at paving a way to use VR in view of educating how to deal with and react to transgressive behaviour.
During the latest in-person meeting in Luxembourg at the end of May, participants discussed the implementation and dissemination of the project results at upcoming sport events. Additionally, the University of Twente presented the first filmed scenarios, thus giving participants the opportunity to test the VR tool before the planned public launch in summer 2026. More information about BESST can be found on the official website.
In this spirit, EOA is proud to present the newest addition to its project portfolio, SAFE – Safeguarding Approaches Focusing on grassroot sport Environment. Through the specific focus on grassroots sport we aim at tackling a fairly unaddressed gap in sports. SAFE is a joint and truly European effort that includes 13 project partners.
Following the kick-off meeting in Brussels in March the project is already halfway through its first Work Package, in which we prepare an overview of current best practice strategies and frameworks, new technological opportunities and their relevance to grassroot sports. It is among here where SAFE ties in with BESST 2.0, as Virtual Reality can be a vital tool to reach all kind of sport levels in the future in a low-barrier manner. As the EOA, we look forward to contributing to SAFE throughout the next 3 years and strengthen Safeguarding in Sport altogether.
