The Erasmus Plus funded SPIRIT Project is holding the SPIRIT International Event which will be held 11-15 September 2023 at the University of Lisboa, Portugal and the Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU) is taking part in this opportunity.

This activity, which carries the theme "Inspiring Inclusion in Sports: Success Stories, Practical Skills, and Management Strategies", opens up insight into the development of sports with one of the keywords 'inclusion'.

The word inclusion means including all levels of society with various limitations, including women with disabilities, and various gender differences.

The event, which was held for five days, was attended by 11 universities from Portugal, Spain, Cyprus, India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia as partners in the European Union Erasmus Plus funding SPIRIT Project.

According to USU SPIRIT Project Coordinator Prof. Dr. Dr. Dina Keumala Sari, M. Gizi, SpGK(K), (Faculty of Medicine), as the host for this activity is the University of Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal with the activity center at the Faculdade de Montricidade Humana, as the coordinator is Ana Pipio.

"This event opens up insight to all participants on how to develop sports with the keyword inclusion in all forms of sports activities, especially physical improvement," said Prof Dina, Monday (18/9/23).

He continued, increasing physical activity and proper nutrition are the keys to preventing non-communicable diseases in the future. So the inclusion of various groups, including those with disabilities, is very important.

"This activity is also fully supported by USU Chancellor Prof. Dr. Muryanto Amin, S.Sos., M.Si. who provides various conveniences and complete facilities to develop this SPIRIT project, including the development of the USU SPIRIT Club fitness and gym center at USU, " he explained.

He continued, in the presentation session on the topic of Inclusions in High Performance Sport were coach Ivo Quendera and the athlete who won the medal at the international Paralympic championship, namely Norberto Mourao. This presentation about success stories and various ways to achieve success opened the views of all participants, including USU SPIRIT Club participants, namely Dessy Ramasari (Faculty of Dentistry), Risris Salmah Andrian (Faculty of Cultural Sciences) and Fiora Patricia Ginting (Faculty of Economics and Business)

Apart from the presentation about participation, on the last day students were also given full opportunity to present all messages, impressions, activities during this international event, there was also one event, namely 'student premium time'.

"This activity is a special activity for students to show their understanding of the SPIRIT project. All participants carried out various other practical activities such as korfball games, traditional sports and regional games played together to develop sports to prevent non-communicable diseases, with young people as carriers agent of change," he concluded.

In the future, USU is also expected to be able to provide the best action as part of these changes. SPIRIT project activities will continue until the middle of next year and it is hoped that dissemination will continue. (*)