Bounceback events: strengthening outreach towards a phase 2 of the project

Much has happened since the first issue of the Bounceback project newsletter. The team has achieved great results and is ready to successfully formally close the project by end October 2022. Why Formally? Because all partners seem to agree that this was only a great start, and are ready to engage in future work and commitments to ensure that the great outputs produced in these 18 months end up serving a vast number of athletes both in the EU and beyond. 
Thanks to the multiplier events and major conference held in the last few weeks, we are in a position to confirm that yes we will move ahead and the appetite is vast.
This issue of the newsletter aims at summarising the partnership and out reach actions taken by the local team through the multiplier events and major conference organised.

COUNTRY SPECIFIC REPORTING

The case of Greece: AEK and Militos

Two multiplier events were held in Greece: one by AEK, one by Militos.

AEK Athletic Club organized a 1-day demonstration workshop about its actions for the year that passed, inviting athletes, officials from the federations they cooperate, sponsors, businessmen and potential cooperators in Athens, on 10 th July 2022. Aims were to a) facilitate the dissemination of project outputs to target groups, b) provide a space for the evaluation and validation of project results, and c) engage stakeholders and target groups in providing information for the policy recommendations report, using data collection tools prepared by UP. AEK gathered the results of data collection questionnaire and sent them to UP. The lead partner provided organizational guidelines for the workshops. The event took place at the Museum of Minor Asia Civilization “Filio Haidemenou” which is connected with the history and the values that the club represents. During the multiplier event, AEK presented the results of the Bounceback project. The goal and the actions of the program were explained in European level and then AEK’s Bounceback actions were presented, like
the BOUNCEBACK match-making tool; learning materials and platform and pilot training sessions’ results, the athletes’ interviews, the TPM in Rome etc. The participants found Bounceback program interesting and useful because they all recognize the need of veteran athletes to succeed in something different and find their new path.

The event organized by Militos Consulting SA had a two-fold objective: from the one hand to present the professional development challenges of persons in a sector which is detached from the labour market opportunities after retirement (sports sector) an, from the other, highlight the transferable character of soft skills.
To this end, a set of two slots have been prepared to involve the audience. First, the challenges for veteran athletes at the professional level after their sports career were highlighted, showcasing the objectives, findings, and experiences of Bounceback project, and in particular how the project partners documented gaps and methodologies to close the professional development gaps through the provision of professional development training, drawing from the pool of skills and competences of athletes to be transferred into professional skills and competences (either at the level of employment. Or entrepreneurship). 
The transversal character of soft skills were presented by an adult trainer on behalf of Militos (Ms. Marianna Terzidaki), while the training approach of Bounceback (online platform) has been presented by Mr. Kyriakos Lingas (Militos). 
The mix of the participants are idividuals active in professional development and entrepreneurial support. A follow up discussion was carried out with respect to both the sector-specific aspect of the project and the intervention, as well as the transferability potential of soft skills. 
The main points of interest as stressed by the participants were the following:

• Acknowledging the need to structure training interventions by drawing from past experiences (adult education principle, engaging learners)
• Prompting learning experiences that have low instructional nature and high interaction/active involvement nature on behalf of learners, especially athletes who have been detached from formal and non-formal education during their career.  Exploring the transferability potential of the Bounceback training to be applied in contexts other than that of the sports sector, sharing however similar characteristics with the sport sector (e.g., former military personnel etc.)

The participation of an educational association as well as AKEP (Academy of entrepreneurship) was valuable, since possible synergies in VET and entrepreneurial development areas at local level have been established, mostly with respect to the methodological approach of the Bounceback training provision, the training and learning methods and tools, the concept of the Match-making tool.

The case of Italy

The multiplier event held on 30 September 2022 at the historical and representative venue of Circolo Canottieri Lazio was a great confirmation of the commitment and enthusiasm of for the multisport club Lazio vis a vis the Bounceback project.
Lazio Karate (Bounceback project implementing partners) is in fact a member of one of the biggest multisport clubs in Europe, and the event offered an opportunity to invite representatives of other associations members of the multisport club Lazio as well as federations, and private sector and academia representatives, to showcase and discuss about the project’s core outputs, i.e. the match making tool and learning platform.
The event had two presenters: Ms. Maria Luisa Saponaro, a development programme management expert who contributed to the implementation of Bounceback for Lazio, presented the project, the challenges and opportunities of dual careers in general, and the framework in which the project fits. Mr. Fabrizio Cupellini, whom we have introduced to you in the past issue of the Newsletter, went through the instruments produced by the project in detail for the audience to get a clear idea of the purpose of the platform.
Both the project principles and its core outputs were considered extremely helpful by the entire room, where plenty of bilateral requests for follow up were received.
During the event alone Lazio had also the chance to engage over 15 partners, who are ready and willing to play a role in the dissemination and use of the platform. Their decision makers are willing and supportive of publicising the existence of this tool, to promote dual careers both in Italy and beyond, through EMCA.

The case of Hungary: workshop and major conference

VEDAC in cooperation with UP organized a 1-day demonstration workshop in the University Library in Veszprém on 9th June, 2022. Aims were to a) facilitate the dissemination of project outputs to target groups, b) provide a space for the evaluation and validation of project results, and c) engage stakeholders and target groups in providing information for the policy recommendations report, using data collection tools prepared by UP. Réka Vámosi, project manager and Dr. Edit Kővári, trainer presented the progress of the Bounceback international project (BOUNCEBACK match-making tool (O1), learning materials and platform (O2), and pilot training sessions results (O3)), followed by a round table discussion where Attila Németh, managing director of VEDAC and Krisztián Török, professional director, and Sándor Pató, founding owner of Silverforg Informatika Kft. shared their experiences and opinions. It was announced that the developed online learning material will be made available free of charge, and the project will end with a major conference in September 2022. The workshop was concluded by a forum for sports clubs, where József Nagy, Director of Organisational Development and Training of the National Federation of Sports Clubs, said that the membership of the SOSZ exceeded 750 sports organisations this year, thanks in part to the fact that it has been able to provide HUF 1250 million in direct support to small and medium-sized clubs over the past 6 years under the Believe in You Programme. The SOSZ liked the Bounceback project and expressed its willingness to cooperate. Target group members were asked to fill in a questionnaire, including questions on data collection for policy recommendations.  At the end of the conference, the athletes, coaches, decision-makers and representatives of sports organisations present had the opportunity to exchange views and initiate future cooperation in an informal discussion.

The major Bounceback conference entitled ‘Active and veteran athletes in the entrepreneurial and business world’ was held on 19 and 20 September 2022 at the University of Pannonia, in Veszprém. Aims were to a) facilitate the dissemination of project outputs to target groups, b) engage major stakeholders at a national and EU level to promote and advance the utilisation of project results, and c) engage stakeholders and target groups to provide policy suggestions based on the policy recommendations report (O4).
As part of a two-day series of events, a conference presenting the results of a two-year Erasmus+ strategic partnership project took place on Monday 19 September in Veszprém. The Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Pannonia and the University and Student Athletics Club of Veszprém (VEDAC), in cooperation with the National Federation of Sports Associations (SOSZ), organised the first BOUNCEBACK Conference – Active and veteran athletes in the entrepreneurial and business world in Building B of the University of Pannonia. Project Partners (LAZIO, RNDO, MILIOTS, AEK) also participated in the event. UP provided interpretation in English for foreign participants.
Dr. András Gelencsér, rector of the University of Pannonia welcomed the participants. In his welcome speech he underlined that the Bounceback Project was preceded by a huge preparatory work, which is truly unique. It is important for the University of Pannonia to provide development opportunities not only for young people but also for adults, especially for sportsmen and sportswomen, who can be guided by this initiative to become useful members of society after their careers.
Dr. Tamás Deutsch, president of the National Federation of Sports Associations, said in his speech that the sporting life in Hungary has developed a lot in the last decade, and we should be proud of Bounceback project. This opportunity can lead retired athletes to the job market, where they need the very qualities they learned on the sports field. These include perseverance, team spirit and working as part of a team.
Attila Németh, executive director of VEDAC, praised the cooperation with the partners involved in the project and the activities of the SOSZ. Dr. Júlia Tobak, the professional leader of the project, and Réka Vámosi, the project manager presented the results of the Bounceback project, including an innovative training material aimed at facilitating the integration of veteran/retired athletes, elite athletes and para-athletes into employment and business life after their sports careers, and helping them to succeed in the entrepreneurial sphere. It was also stressed that without the great teamwork the programme could not have been so successful, and they would like to promote it in future through model lessons. 
Two more programs took place at the event: the Veszprém University Sports Club (VESC) invited the key rural sports clubs to consult on the tasks of the near future under the leadership of Dr. Tamás Deutsch, and participants were given an insight into the training material of the Bounceback project thanks to trainers dr. Edit Kővári and Tamás Kigyós.
The final event was a round table discussion with famous veteran athletes, para-athlete and experts:  Gábor Császár, Dr. Balázs Baji, Dr. Judit Farkas, Zsófia Éva Lengyel and Attila Mizsér. The participants discussed how they could use the experience they gained on the sports field in their business life and how they could combine sport with learning.
The event was a good opportunity to invite the stakeholders to sign a Memorandum of Cooperation for the advancement of the utilization of project outputs and the BOUNCEBACK training approach in general.
On Tuesday 20 September, the event continued with Sports Day and Bounceback Activity programme on the university’s upper campus, where visitors could try out a variety of sports and take part in Bounceback quizzes.
The Bounceback conference ended on Tuesday evening in Papírkutya restaurant, in Veszprém, where three top athletes Fanni Kövér, Hungarian U20 top-ranked, world championship 5th javelin thrower, Kristóf Rasovszky, world champion, Olympic silver medallist long distance swimmer, member of the Sport and Learning Programme of the University of Pannonia and Regina Sipos, K-1 junior European champion martial artist talked about their plans for their sporting and civil life. The discussion was moderated by Dr. Edit Kővári.
Those coaches who attended the conference, 5 training credits was awarded by the Hungarian Coaches Association based on the certificate of attendance received on the venue.
Invited target groups (more than 150 participants) were a) those received training through project outputs and results, i.e. veteran and active athletes, b) those provided training via BOUNCEBACK outputs, i.e. entrepreneurial coaches & relevant VET providers, c, sport clubs,  d, the business/entrepreneurial world, and e, policy makers.
https://www.gtk.uni-pannon.hu/bounceback-konferencia/

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NEXT STEPS

This is the last edition of this newsletter. We hope to be back soon for a new phase of this exciting EU project, possibly involving more partner countries and expertise. Thank you for following us and wish you all a great success in your bounceback journey!

Bounceback Athletes
Developing an innovative learning approach to facilitate the integration of veteran/retired athletes into employment, business and entrepreneurship
www.bouncebackathletes.eu

BOUNCEBACK CONFERENCE

‘Active and veteran athletes in the entrepreneurial and business world’ will be organised by the Faculty of Economics of the University of Pannonia (UP) and the University and Student Athletics Club of Veszprém (VEDAC) in cooperation with the National Association of Sports Clubs (SOSZ) on 19 – 20th September 2022 in Veszprém, Hungary.
We would like to invite you to the event of our Bounceback project. It is a great honour that Dr. Tamás Deutsch, President of SOSZ, will personally participate and that Dr. Balázs Baji, World Champion bronze medalist hurdler and Attila Mizsér, Olympic Champion, Managing Director of Apollo Consulting Kft. and Kristóf Rasovszky, Olympic silver medallist, world champion, two-time European champion and junior world champion swimmer will also participate in the round table discussion.
The event will include a round table discussion, a presentation of the results of the European Commission-funded Bounceback project and an opportunity to develop future collaborations. The project has developed an innovative training method for active and former athletes to transform the skills they acquired during their sporting careers into the skills they need to succeed in the world of entrepreneurship and business.

Bounceback Athletes
Developing an innovative learning approach to facilitate the integration of veteran/retired athletes into employment, business and entrepreneurship
www.bouncebackathletes.eu

Pilot trainings in Hungary, Deep dive on the Bounceback trainingItaly and Greece – Spring/Summer 2022

The AEK Athletic Club (AEK), the A.S.D. Società Sportiva Lazio Karate (LAZIO) and the University and Student Athletics Club of Veszprém (VEDAC) together with the University of Pannonia (UP) organized pilot training sessions for a total number of 100 veteran athletes to help them achieve the success they need in the entrepreneurial and business world in the spring/summer 2022. This special issue of the Bounceback Project newsletter is to provide our readers with a deep dive on the training process including interviews with one of the trainers and one trainee.

Interview with a trainer: Fabrizio Cupellini, General Manager, Lazio American Football

What is your speciality and why do you reckon your experience was relevant in this role?

My name is Fabrizio Cupellini, I am the General Manager for Lazio Football and, currently the President of The FIDAF Lazio. I have over 20 years experience in sports management and have been a public speaker on various sports related subjects for more than 15 years. I am very familiar with the scope of this work; I believe my experience in communication and team building has been important as a facilitator, but the relevant asset I brought to the table was the work I did I for the FIF in the early 2000s about transferable skills from youth sports to school. 

What is your opinion on dual careers? Why do you think they matter and when it would be most crucial to focus in them?

My sports experience mutuates from the United States school sports environment; over the years I was able to appreciate fully the benefits of the student-athlete concept. Decision about a professional carrier in sports happen relatively early in life and narrow the perception of the athlete’s own abilities, creating barriers for choices that will come later in life. It is fundamental to keep the athletes in a dual carrier path as long as possible and, even during their sports days, help them acquire a growth mentality outside of the sector they operate in. The skills that made athletes successful are transferable to other working environments.

What did you take home of this experience?

It is always a privilege to discuss such crucial topics with people. As a facilitator/teacher I am mostly a student; Bounceback has been a tool for me to refine ideas, concepts, communication patterns with persons that share my passion. I am thankful for this opportunity and looking forward to help again.

Interview with a trainee

What sports do you play? Are you amateur or professional? What results are you most proud of?

My sport is triathlon. I’ve been doing it for 4 years in an amateur level. Triathlon is the special sport where you can push your limits in 3 wonderful sports.
In each sport separately, I achieved surprising results at different distances, which all showed my development. I am most proud of my results in the half-distance triathlon – where the time result was not so great – but I reached the finish line cheerfully.

Do you have any experience in the entrepreneurial world?

I work for a food company as a financial manager. My job has a wild range of tasks, I am constantly gathering business experience.

What is your opinion on dual careers? Why do you think they matter and when it would be most crucial to focus in them?

At the level of professional athletes, it is important to be aware of the specialties of a dual career. The question of a dual career should be consciously addressed at the beginning of a sports career.

How would you describe the training session and the Bounceback instruments tested? Do you think there’s potential for them to be adopted at a larger scale?

Useful and interesting training material has been compiled. We heard/discussed many thought-provoking topics during the training. I think there is a demand for it. I am keeping my fingers crossed for the project team to find an opportunity to adopt the Bounceback training material at a larger scale.

What did you take home of this experience?

Interesting stories about athletes, perseverance, and lessons that I have not known so far.

Participants’ feedback

‘I think that the biggest benefit of this training is that it starts the athletes thinking consciously about what area they should be successful in their civil life after sport, and they should take steps to achieve this during their sport career.’

‘A training is always a good opportunity to improve, and this is no different for athletes, who are very valuable people with good competences, but now they want to develop them in a different area. This is what I think the Bounceback training has given to the participants. I really enjoyed it and they seemed to like the series as well.’

‘We have come to the end of a very interesting training series. I believe that we have been able to help the athletes and that we can further develop the platform from the feedback and comments we have received from them. Bounceback!’

‘One of the very important lessons of this training for me was that if all young people continue as they started, it seems that in the future we will welcome a lot of ethical entrepreneurs coming from the world of sport.’

‘This training has opened my eyes to how much potential I have outside of sport and what skills I have and what I can improve on, so it’s been very useful.’

‘Sport has strengthened certain skills and competences in me and this training has helped me to organise them in myself and use them more consciously, both in my life and at work.’

Bounceback Athletes
Developing an innovative learning approach to facilitate the integration of veteran/retired athletes into employment, business and entrepreneurship
www.bouncebackathletes.eu

Pilot trainings in Hungary, Italy and Greece – Spring/Summer 2022

LAZIO, VEDAC, AEK organized pilot training sessions for a total number of 100 veteran athletes (40 in Italy, 30 in Greece, 30 in Hungary per partner) to help them achieve the success they need in the entrepreneurial and business world in the spring/summer 2022. 
The University of Pannonia and VEDAC organised the pilot training courses for veteran and active athletes in March-April-May 2022. During the contact days they covered the background of the training and went through most of the online exercises. In between the contact days participants had the time to fill out the online tasks and complete the three modules. The participants were enthusiastic and active all through the contact days. They understood the importance of developing business and entrepreneurial skills in order to be successful after they end their sports career. The more experienced sportspeople gave important insight on the training’s concepts and they unanimously expressed that the development of entrepreneurial competences and the training concept and actual tasks are necessary for athletes to successfully switch career paths and that this training is useful for any athlete, active or retired.
LAZIO organised the pilot training in an in-person modality in June 2022. A trainer was hired for this scope who is a former athlete, and now an airplane pilot for a major company in his country. Lazio Karate benefited from its Multisport club membership to engage athletes of different sport disciplines, namely: karate, Football, swimming, rowing, hockey, American football. In total over 40 athletes became aware of the platform. Most of the training resulted in great engagement and feedback by participants. Among the feedback received was the interesting content and the interest in bringing the discussion further.
AEK organised successfully three pilot trainings for Module 1, 2 and 3 in June 2022. The modules were addressed AEK’s athletes of handball club, AEK´s fencing club athletes and young athletes at the University of Athens, at the School of Physical Education and Sports Science, where the athletes can get in touch with many different professional fields around the sports area. In all cases the training environment was friendly to the athletes and many team building activities took place. First, we wanted the athletes to realise their skills like working as a team, problem solving, working altogether, taking fast decisions, working through time pressure and expressing themselves. We tried to make the players think about their future, how they imagine it and what they are planning about it. Athletes talked to us about how they gain their living (the veterans) and what they are imagining of doing after the retirement (the younger ones). We tried to identify their mindset towards sports, their personality, their skills and their professional career and help them move forward towards their goals and wishes.

BOUNCEBACK Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is available – July 2022

The BOUNCEBACK course materials (MOOC) were successfully tested by participants of the pilot trainings in Hungary (UP and VEDAC), Italy (LAZIO) and Greece (AEK). Based on the experiences and feedback of the participants of pilot training sessions the Platform was fine-tuned and redesigned by R&DO and MILITOS. We are happy to inform you that the final material is available to all interested veterans and active athletes and stakeholders free of charge in the form of e-learning. Anyone who decides to participate in the BOUNCEBACK MOOC simply logs into the BOUNCEBACK platform. Partners will continue to collect feedback from the stakeholders during the multiplier events. 

Added value – Bounceback digital badge

As an added value, a digital badge was also created in the frame of the project. This digital badge can be used to recognise completion of the Bounceback pilot trainings in Hungary, Greece and Italy. It is a kind of digital certificate that includes the earning criteria, the issuer and all necessary information about the training. The participants of the trainings received their BB badge via e-mail.

NEXT STEPS

Bounceback Major Conference – September 2022

The BOUNCEBACK CONFERENCE – ‘Active and veteran athletes in the entrepreneurial and business world’ will be organised by the Faculty of Economics of the University of Pannonia (UP) and the University and Student Athletics Club of Veszprém (VEDAC) in cooperation with the National Association of Sports Clubs (SOSZ) on 19 – 20th September 2022 in Veszprém, Hungary.
We would like to invite you to the event of our Bounceback project. It is a great honour that Dr. Tamás Deutsch, President of SOSZ, will personally participate and that Dr. Balázs Baji, World Champion bronze medalist hurdler and Attila Mizsér, Olympic Champion, Managing Director of Apollo Consulting Kft. and Kristóf Rasovszky, Olympic silver medallist, world champion, two-time European champion and junior world champion swimmer will also participate in the round table discussion.
The event will include a round table discussion, a presentation of the results of the European Commission-funded Bounceback project and an opportunity to develop future collaborations. The project has developed an innovative training method for active and former athletes to transform the skills they acquired during their sporting careers into the skills they need to succeed in the world of entrepreneurship and business. 
[Read more on the Conference]

Bounceback Athletes
Developing an innovative learning approach to facilitate the integration of veteran/retired athletes into employment, business and entrepreneurship
www.bouncebackathletes.eu

Bounceback Training Materials

Over the course of the past 6 months, and following regular consultations and through the joint work of the partners the BOUNCEBACK, training materials reflecting the objectives of the project for veteran and active athletes were developed. 
University of Pannonia created Module 1 – Before the games – The transfer, while MILITOS created Module 2 – Warming up! – Getting ready and Module 3 – In the locker room – Entering the field to transfer the skills of veteran athletes into competences that ensure success in the business/entrepreneurial world. AEK, Lazio, VEDAC, R&DO reviewed the Modules to ensure their efficacy and relevance to the sports and adult training structures in their own countries. The training material was translated into all the project languages by the Partners, taking into account national specificities.

Developing the BOUNCEBACK online platform and Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)

The framework of the Platform (WordPress) was designed and developed by R&DO first in English and reviewed by all other partners in terms of its functionality. Parallel to this, the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) was also integrated in the BOUNCEBACK platform. Subsequently, R&DO will continue to develop and fine-tune the platform in the partners’ languages and expects to have it ready by mid-March, 2022. Partners will continue to test in their own language in March to ensure that everything is ready before the training.
The BOUNCEBACK course materials will be made available to all interested veterans and active athletes and stakeholders free of charge in the form of e-learning. However in the first round, it will only be available to participants of the pilot trainings in Hungary, Italy and Greece. The final material will be made available after piloting and fine-tuning according to the experiences and feedback of the participants of pilot training sessions. Later on, those who decides to participate in the BOUNCEBACK MOOC simply logs into the BOUNCEBACK platform, logs in and registers for the course. 

NEXT STEPS

Organising Pilot training sessions: Ready, set, Bounceback training!

Lazio, VEDAC, AEK will organize pilot training sessions for a total number of 100 veteran athletes (40 in Italy, 30 in Greece, 30 in Hungary per partner) in the spring 2022. The trainers have been appointed, and it has been decided that there will be ‘tandem trainers’ who will act as a bridge between the trainers and the athletes, and also help to involve the decision-makers.
The pilot training sessions will comprise:
•    the self-assessment of veteran athletes via the online platform,
•    a number of classroom teachings carried out as per the specifications in the handbooks,
•    a distance training programme via which veteran athletes will receive e-learning through meetings with experts on the platform and via the MOOC and receive the necessary guidance to overcome actual challenges during their traineeships.
The University of Pannonia and VEDAC are organizing pilot training course for veteran and active athletes in March-April-May 2022 to help them achieve the success they need in the entrepreneurial and business world.

Application for the Hungarian Bounceback training and more info can be found here. Bounceback news in Hungrian available here.

NEXT STEPS 

Developing of the handbooks and train the trainer material

The BOUNCEBACK consortium will design and develop handbooks covering all the pedagogic specifications for training veteran athletes that aim to enter the business/entrepreneurial world.
These handbooks will also provide detailed how-to guides outlining pilot-tested approaches on building a new career and providing practical advice on how to achieve success on the career paths presented in the Match-Making Tool. AEK has started to develop the Training Guidelines.

BOUNCEBACK ON EPALE

The Bounceback project is available on EPALE (Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe).  Two new blogs have been published https://epale.ec.europa.eu/en/blog/development-training-materials-progress, https://epale.ec.europa.eu/hu/content/vigyazz-kesz-bounceback-trening. In sport, just as in life, diligence and hard work pay off!

Bounceback Athletes
Developing an innovative learning approach to facilitate the integration of veteran/retired athletes into employment, business and entrepreneurship
www.bouncebackathletes.eu

Development of Training Materials in Progress

In the first half of 2021, the professional background of the learning materials was established based on the findings of the O1 research. The competence profile was defined based on the research results and the ENTRECOMP framework and the Match-Making Tool was also developed, which is a key part of the developments of the training material. The second output consists of four key tasks and at this point, Task1 is finished and the rest of them are in progress.
Task1 – Deriving the learning outcomes: The Bounceback Team defined learning outcomes for the Training based on the “Intermediate” levels of the ENTRECOMP framework and incorporated the added values of the O1 research so a pool of learning outcomes was established. After this, an iteration process was used to adjust the list of possible learning outcomes to the methodology (MOOC) and the specialities of the Bounceback projects. In this progress, the backbone of the 3 training modules was created using learning outcomes and basic educational goals and concepts. In the end, the structure of the 3 modules was created.
Task 2 – Developing the BOUNCEBACK modules. In this task, we started the development of the three BOUNCEBACK modules that use the customized EntreComp framework for the needs of veteran athletes. The University of Pannonia is developing module 1 whereas MILITOS is developing modules 2 & 3. The development is based on agreements of the content breakdown of the modules into learning Units:

Module 1 – Before the games
The objective of Module 1 as an online training module is to make the learners (veteran athletes) aware of the links between their soft skills as acquired in their sports career with the professional skills needed in the labour market, businesses and the entrepreneurial world. 
Unit 1. The MMT as an entry point to show them through their score (the spider graph) their indicative performance across the 7 axes vis-a-vis the Bounceback skills persona and the sector’s skills persona.
Unit 2. This Unit is about Career flexibility and what it means in terms of acquired skills and competencies in different settings (professional, life, experiences etc.), including examples.
Unit 3. This Unit is introducing the concept of Portfolio as an alternative way and tool to present in a visualized way, how soft skills and hard skills live side by side (Portfolio as a tool to manifest a competence persona).

Module 2 – Warming up! Entering the field
Unit 1: Ideas & Opportunities: Preparing for a new professional career
Unit 2: Mobilizing human and material resources

Module 3 – In the locker room
Unit 1: Getting into action
Unit 2: Taking stock of your learning achievements.

TRANSNATIONAL PROJECT MEETINGS

First transnational project meeting – held in person in Athens!

Bounceback project team. Athens, Greece, 27/09/2021

On the 27th of September the BounceBack team met up in Athens, Greece for their first face-to-face meeting since the beginning of the project. Despite numerous online meetings, work sessions and incredible progress in the project, the partners had still to meet one another in person as the pandemic had restricted travel.
With the objective of  supporting athletes and boosting the integration of former athletes into employment, business and entrepreneurship, the partnership composed of the University of Pannonia (Hungary), Militos Consulting SA (Greece), R&DO Ltd (Cyprus), University & Student Athletics Club of Veszprem (Hungary), AEK (Greece) and SS Lazio Karate (Italy) worked on concluding the Intellectual Output 2 – Learning Materials and Platform and began the process of Intellectual Output 3 – Handbook and Pilot Training Sessions. Partners also discussed and agreed on joining to EPALE – Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe.

OUTREACH

BOUNCEBACK on EPALE

The Bounceback project has been registered on EPALE – Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe.  EPALE is a European, multilingual, open membership community of adult learning professionals, including adult educators and trainers, guidance and support staff, researchers and academics, and policymakers. Our 1st blog has been published and a Bounceback group has been created too. We will use it not only to build a professional community but also for dissemination purposes and to ensure sustainability.

NEXT STEPS

Developing the BOUNCEBACK platform

This task consists of developing the BOUNCEBACK online platform. At this point the basis of the tasks needed to develop the platform is created and the needs of the content development is discussed. The platform will be designed and developed by RnDO and reviewed by all other partners in terms of its functionality. As the activities need to suit the available platform, careful consideration is needed to develop exercises and task that are doable. Continuous discussion is need between the partners in order to know what types of activities the platform can handle.

Developing the BOUNCEBACK MOOC

This task consists of the design and development of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) that will be integrated in the BOUNCEBACK platform. The MOOC will make the BOUNCEBACK learning materials available for e-learning without charge to all interested veteran athletes and stakeholders: anyone who decides to take the BOUNCEBACK MOOC will simply access the BOUNCEBACK platform, log on and sign up to receive the course. The MOOC will not simply provide the learning materials online, but will rather deliver them in a customized way appropriate for all the aspects of e-learning, such as course provision, assessment exercises & tests, development of graphics that facilitate e-learning. The MOOC also have two handbooks one for the participants and one for the trainer who is also provided by a guideline to help organizing the training in person if there is a need/motivation for that. At this point, the professional content is being created and the IT framework is under construction that will build up the MOOC.

Bounceback Athletes
Developing an innovative learning approach to facilitate the integration of veteran/retired athletes into employment, business and entrepreneurship
www.bouncebackathletes.eu

TRANSNATIONAL PROJECT MEETING ATHENS

On the 27th of September the BounceBack team met up in Athens, Greece for their first face-to-face meeting since the beginning of the project. Despite numerous online meetings, work sessions and incredible progress in the project, the partners had still to meet one another in person as the pandemic had restricted travel. Militos Consulting SA hosted the meeting and the partners at the headquarters in Athens.

With the objective of  supporting athletes and boosting the integration of former athletes into employment, business and entrepreneurship, the partnership composed of the University of Pannonia (Hungary), Militos Consulting SA (Greece), R&DO Ltd (Cyprus), University & Student Athletics Club of Veszprem (Hungary), AEK (Greece) and SS Lazio Karate (Italy) worked on concluding the Intellectual Output 2 – Learning Materials and Platform and began the process of Intellectual Output 3 – Handbook and Pilot Training Sessions. Partners also discussed and agreed on joining to EPALE – Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe.

Keep a look out for newsletter #4 and the IO2 soon to come.

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