The team at Tagtiv8 love travelling, whether it be in the UK or other countries. We have a soft spot for Greece. Why? Apart from the climate, the culture, the food and drink, we also get opportunities to visit family and friends. We still get a buzz whenever we visit Panathenaic Stadium – aka Kallimarmaro, where we showcased some active learning games a few years ago.
Imagine our surprise when we received an email, asking us to collaborate on a pilot programme in Athens and across some of Greece’s many islands. A meeting in Sheffield was followed by online presentations and emails, resulting in our Maths resources being shipped to Greece. The following month, we headed there ourselves.
Walk & Talk Meetings
Meeting #1 was with Eleni, the project manager – including a site visit to the incredible Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre.
Meeting #2 was a ‘Walk & Talk Meeting’, as recommended by our friends at Move & Learn (CIC). We had connected with Stratos online and were excited to meet him in person. Our meeting started where else but Kallimarmaro. The conversation flowed as Stratos guided us around his neighbourhood and that of Plaka. When we say ‘flowed’ we mean flew. We learned so much about his background in music, his studies in Trikala and his work with Sports Paths on the island of Tilos.
Initial Impact
The initial feedback from Tilos has been wonderful. Check out this post on Facebook.
The potential for playful collaboration is massive – we’ve even seen our tags being used on one of the beaches on Kimolos.
Building on the children’s love of chess, we’ve even co-created new #moveandlearn games around 8×8 boards and more.
Update #1
We made it to Tilos, where we caught up with Stratos and his 2 co-workers on one of the innovative programmes run by Αναγέννηση & Πρόοδος | Regeneration & Progress. We managed to attend the closing ceremony in the main square, where we saw children who were:
- smiling and happy
- engaged
- confident
There were many proud relatives applauding and recording.
Researchers need to measure, but sometimes you just need to look. Seeing Stratos engaged in conversations with the children and their families was something very special. Watching the way the children respond to him was equally moving. They clearly hold him in high respect and will miss him greatly now that his time with the project ends. Not just the children – Stratos was stopped so many times as he cycled, walked through the streets and squares. The smiles and hugs spoke volumes.
We need organisations such as Αναγέννηση & Πρόοδος | Regeneration & Progress with individuals who treasure the importance of rapport and high quality relationships.
Stratos has clearly achieved the mission of increasing opportunities for sport and other physical activities. He has brought in other dimensions too:
- cultural
- ecological (via links with the island’s approaches to sustainability)
Update #2
The pilot has been such a great success that Sports Paths are shipping Tagtiv8 out to 2 more islands – Psara and Kasos. Fingers crossed we can head back to Greece in the new year.
Update #3
And we are off again, this time to 2 more islands – Lipsi and Astipalea with Coaches Loukianna and Adriana. Here’s the first post of many…
It’s a bit grim and drizzly today.
Meanwhile, in 🇬🇷 on Island #5…“Today in Leipsous we started Tagtiv8 games. The kids loved them!!”
Thank You Coach Ανδριάνα 🐯😎 pic.twitter.com/jWI4G7UDbJ
— tagtiv8 (@tagtiv8) March 17, 2024