Safety in Sports started as a European project which involved partners from seven European countries.

Sports, health and quality of life are closely interconnected. We all need regular physical activity in order to function optimally and to prevent illnesses. Furthermore, living an active life brings many other social and psychological benefits. The social role of sports also has the potential to strengthen the European's external relations.
But certainly sporting also holds a risk of injury. It has to be taken into account that according to the IDB about eighteen percent of all injuries due to accidents result from these sporting activities.

The benefit for health could be significantly increased by reducing the frequency of sports injuries!

The aim of Safety in Sports is increasing the knowledge on the prevention of acute and chronic sports injuries. Reducing the magnitude and severity of sports related injuries in Europe is the ultimate goal of the project.
To ensure a high acceptance among stakeholders in sports it is of great importance to put across that injury prevention and safety promotion are two sides of the same coin, and should go hand in hand.
Sports injury prevention programmes are often quite general in nature, e.g. advising some warm-up and stretching. Given the specific character of each sports activity, there is a need for preparing the athlete more adequately with regard to the demands of the respective sports activity and to integrate these measures within. currently accepted training practices. For instance by training methods which are tailored to the respective sports. In addition, experience shows that compliance can be enhanced if sports participants recognise that these measures will also assist them in improving their sports performance.

Plan of work
Starting with Handball and Basketball, the project Safety in Sports will focus on the 7 popular team sports, but the projected Network of experts will aim on all kinds of sports.
In close collaboration with the EHF, FIBA Europe, National Sports Associations and a network of experts , a project team will work on:
• identification of injury prevention measures
• identification of safety promotion strategies
• developing a toolkit containing the best injury prevention measures and safety promotion strategies
• pilot testing of this toolkit in handball (Norway and Czech Republic) and basketball (Sweden and Slovak Republic)
• transfer of results into other sports and countries

Target groups
Persons being concerned with sports injury prevention and safety promotion, such as
• sportsmen and -women
• experts (coaches, physiotherapists, sports medicine specialists, sports scientists etc.)
• representatives of sports associations and other institutions (e.g. insurances, sports politics)