How we structure HEARTletics sessions with children in vulnerable contexts

The HEARTletics project does not improvise. Each session with children is grounded in a shared protocol agreed by the four European partners at the Training Course held in Vila-seca in June 2026, and adapted to the specific profile of each local group.

The protocol, in five decisions

• Pre-session briefing of the monitors: before every session the team reviews the specific psycho-educational objectives being pursued (self-efficacy, cohesion, self-confidence) and how to spot them during the activity.
• Age-based grouping: younger, middle and older children in different spaces of the centre. This lets us tune the level of demand, the language and the dynamics to each child’s developmental moment.
• Relay and station-based circuits: a format that multiplies actual activity time, minimises waiting and makes it easier to observe each participant’s behaviour across different challenges.
• Progressive exercises: difficulty grows so that every child experiences success before facing the next challenge. The feeling of “I was able to” is the ground on which intrinsic motivation is built.
• Live adaptations to the real group: when we encounter impulsivity, distraction or difficulties linked to the lack of previous formal education, the session is adapted on the fly — without abandoning the objectives, but adjusting pace and rules.

Why this matters

In sport-based interventions with children in vulnerable contexts, the difference between “doing sport” and “delivering intervention with impact” lies exactly here: in the educational intentionality of the design. HEARTletics is committed to giving monitors practical and simple tools — not turning them into psychologists — so they can fully unlock the educational potential of sport.

This protocol will be part of the final Toolkit

Everything we are learning in these weeks will feed the HEARTletics Toolkit that 6tma coordinates and that will be openly available in January 2027.

Project co-funded by the European Union — Erasmus+ Sport 2025. Proposal No. 101243313.