Mental Well-being for Young Athletes project
The Mental Well-being for Young Athletes project improves the expertise of coaches. In the project, coaches are provided with content and methods to strengthen the mental well-being of young athletes. The material and the related online courses are freely available and designed to meet the needs of coaches involved with any type of sport.
At their best, sports environments provide children and young people with an excellent basis for growth and development. In a safe environment, young athletes are accepted as they are, they can express and share their emotions and thoughts and they are allowed to fail, learn from their mistakes and try again.
The aim of the Mental Well-being for Young Athletes project is that everyone involved in the sporting activities of children and young people know how to support the normal development of mental health, apply mental health skills as part of the coaching activities and face children and young people in difficult situations.
The Mental Well-being for Young Athletes project is active from 2020 to 2023.
Concrete tools for coaches
The results of the project and tools designed for coaches can be found on the page Mental Well-being for Young Athletes, which has the shortadress:
The primary target group of the project is everyone involved in the coaching of 10–15-year-olds who can impact the mental well-being of children and young people. Secondary target groups include the parents involved in club activities and the structural framework around the sports environments of young people.
We also aim to ensure that the attitudes and atmosphere of sports hobbies support the mental health of children and young people.
The Mental Well-being for Young Athletes project is funded by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health through the profits of Veikkaus and the Ministry of Education and Culture.