Climb your mountain

Fuji is an unusually positive sports club, setting completely new standards in the field of inclusion. The innovativeness of this project lies in the fact all of its activities are based on including children and youths with disabilities as well as their peers without disabilities. Fuji’s example proves that creating friendships is a way to “live” inclusion, that 15-year-olds without disabilities can be 24/7 assistants to their wheelchair using friends, that judo is a greatly adaptable sport and that diagnoses are not limitations, but motivators for the creative activities of this project.

There are very few programmes for youth and children with disabilities, while few sports clubs have the necessary skills to serve people with disabilities. Climb your mountain (“Osvoji vlastitu planinu”) is the first judo club in Croatia founded to bring together children and youth with and without disabilities.

Building new friendships is not a new idea, but it may be a new answer. Youth with disabilities are paired with a youth peer without a disability to play judo and learn from one another. When the young people without disabilities become assistants to their peers with disabilities, we build inclusion through sports.

Children and youth with disabilities and their peers without disabilities are the focus of the project. We also work with coaches trained to assist people with disabilities, 5 assistants, a sports manager, and volunteers who support the programme.

We connect children with and without disabilities to build understanding and empathy. Climb your mountain won the first prize in the #BeInclusiveEU Sports Awards by the European Commission. Yet, in our eyes, the project’s biggest success is that most of its initial participants are still involved.

Building inclusion through new friendships is possible in sports clubs, cultural and art organizations with a bit of goodwill and creativity. Equal rights and opportunities for people with disabilities should be the aim and action of all organizations, irrespective of the organization type or region.