CESS

The Confederation Europeanne Sport Santé (CESS) European Confederation Sport and Health is a non profitable organisation. CESS is ruled by a general assembly where the members work as a group. They vote for a president of the organisation every four years.

The confederation was established in 1991, made up of five organizations.

The designated/assigned organisations were: the Barcelona union of recreational and cultural sports activities (UBAE) – Spain, the Sport union ACLI (Italian catholic work association)-Italy, the Italian association of sport and culture (AICS) – Italy, the French federation of physical education and voluntary gymnastic (FFEPGV) – France. Later in 1995 CESS expanded and grew to 35 members.

The members are non governmental and non-profit organisations who’s objectives are to promote sport for all as a healthy habit.

The geographical coverage of the organisation is Europe, also includes an organisation from Israel. At the moment there are 32 members from 17 different countries which are Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Holland, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Estonia, Lithuania, Hungary, the Republic of Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and Israel.

They have kept in contact with organisations from the United Kingdom, Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Ukraine.

At the same time CESS is in contact with other international organisations with the objective of achieving something in common: the recognition of physical activity and sport as just another expression in our society, recognising its values and attributions. Among these organisations the ones that stand out are, the International Federation of Sport for All (FISpT), the International Culture and Sport Association (ISCA), the European Non-governmental Sport Organisation (ENGSO), the International Sport Confederation of Work (CSIT) and the European Sports Federation Company (EFCS).

These contacts have materialised in the constitution of the Round Table of the sport for all organisations, who over the last few years have had numerous work meetings.

In the same way, CESS has participated in numerous editions of European Union Sport Forums celebrated in Luxembourg, Copenhagen, Verona, Brussels etc.

Since the beginning, the Confederation has promoted the practise of sport as a healthy habit, and that there shouldn’t be any restrictions on practising sport, nor should it depend on the level of the participants. This is why each participant should realise that practising sport in an inappropriate way is a health risk but at the same time they have the opportunity and resources to carry out any physical activity they want in a safe way.

Over the last few years numerous studies have shown that practising physical activity in an appropriate way can be beneficial for your health. Further more, if physical activity is carried out regularly and accompanied with a balanced diet the problem of overweight in adults as well as children can be prevented.

The actions that are being carried out at the moment in relation to the promotion of healthy habits of diet and sport are the following:

RECOGNITION: In the first place the recognition of those projects and studies are promoted/encouraged, in relation to the question that is in hand; carried out by the members of the organisations at national level. This recognition is reflected in the annual CESS award of investigation, planning and development of activities. After being carefully executed by a specific panel of judges, the award is given along with a cheque to those projects that are of general interest.

TRAINING: In second place, CESS promotes and sets up the organisation of seminars and training days for the leaders of the different member associations. On these training days experiences are gathered, and knowledge related to the organisation and development of sport and physical activities are passed on .

DEVELOPING INICIATIVES: In the third place, We have started a project promoting physical activity and diet, which is intended to get children, parents and physical activity instructors at sport clubs involved in practising exercise regularly, taking into account the aspects of maintaining health; focusing at the same time on the importance of a balanced diet. This project involves dieticians who try to help the children and parents on how to interpret the labelling on food and therefore enable them to choose the most beneficial foods.

Putting the work with the youngsters aside, CESS is initiating the introduction of physical activity programmes that depend on the health condition of each participant. These programmes must be easy to introduce and accessible for the different clubs and entities of the organisations members.