Sports Paths

Since the start of the program, in 2015, winter and summer programs have been held on 27 different islands.

The Sports Paths is an initiative designed and implemented by the Sports Excellence Center under the scientific supervision of the 1st Orthopaedic Department of the Medical School of the Hellenic and Kapodistrian University of Athens (EKPA), with an exclusive donation from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. It is a program to promote sports education, through activities that advance mental and physical health. The purpose of the program is to improve the quality of life of children on the islands of the so-called “barren line”.

The program promotes children’s creative engagement through sports, aiming to:

• The development of children’s basic motor skills
• Improving mental well-being through free and creative play
• The socialization of children (participation of children in group games)

After seven years of implementation, the program now aims for its organic integration into the daily life of each place, looking forward to a long-term program, the success of which is based on the activation and participation of the residents on the one hand, and of the local bodies of the islands of the barren line on the other.