Learning outcomes

The course intends to provide adequate knowledge of sports and motor activities that can be carried out in a natural environment and will have the main purpose of finalizing these activities to aspects such as: improving the fitness of the person; opportunities to improve individual athletic performance; improvement of teamwork; improving the quality of life of the person; education and motor development. Some practical activities in the natural environment will be treated both theoretically and practically.
A further objective of the course is to provide basic knowledge in order to manage, organize, promote activities in a natural environment, seeking to fully exploit the knowledge and skills of a graduate in motor science through practical application.
In particular, reference will be made to user targets such as elderly people and people with disabilities.
The specific objectives of the course are the presentation and analysis of the different aspects of the following activities:

• Trekking, winter hiking with snowshoes, Nordic walking and other modes of movement that can be carried out in a natural environment.
• Hebertism and the "natural method": from the foundations of physical education to a new way of carrying out motor activity.
• Orientation, topography and knowledge of resources and limitations of the natural environment
• Climbing, a complete sport that requires motor, psychological and emotional skills.
• Adventure as the main tool of human training, from outdoor-education to outdoor training.
For each field of sport / motor sport presented, the course intends to provide to each trainer, skills related to:
• promotion and organization of the activity
• design and choice of appropriate activities according to the target user target
• management and management of group activity
In addition, the following aspects will be developed in some cases:
• motion analysis and correct teaching
• Teamwork
• Identifying and managing emotional states of the person

Program

During the course each specific theme (activities listed above) will be dealt with in both practical and theoretical aspects.
The course will be organized in 8 hours of classroom lessons and 5 sessions of 6 hours for the practical part. Each practical meeting will take place in the natural environment and will deal with a specific discipline.

In theory classes the following topics will be dealt with:
1. Walking: the value of the journey as a physical activity with a short presentation of the metabolic and biomechanical aspects. Trekking, snowshoeing, Nordic walking and various walking techniques, presentation of technical aspects and materials to be usedTheory and practice of Hebert and of natural gymnastics. The value of motor and sport activities carried out in nature, the effects on the body and on the person.
2. The theory and practice of Georges Hebert and of natural gymnastics. The value of motor and sport activities carried out in nature; natural movements and their practice as maintenance and promotion of health; the effects of the practice of movement in the natural environment on the organism (earthing, etc.).
3. Preparation of motor activity in a natural environment. The use of planning, analysis of the situation and verification cards. The equipment according to the different types of proposals.
4. The organization of motor activity interventions in a natural environment, differentiated according to the different types of users: weak social groups, social groups with special needs (Neet, prisoners, etc.), children and the elderly. Adventure and sport in natural environments: the different professional figures that operate in environments and natural and the collaboration with these.


In practical exercises:

• The value of the movement performed in the open air, the strengths and variables from the controller and manage. Types of proposals and differentiation of contents according to different users (school, weak groups, risk subjects, special social groups). Characteristics of motor activities in natural environments and their management. How to enhance the resources of the natural environment in an educational logic with different categories of social groups.

• Physical movement and physical activity in nature: the natural ways of moving in the natural environment: walking, fast walking, trekking, running, running uphill, downhill running, fast running, long distance travel. Other ways of moving with the use of different equipment: snowshoes, skis, trekking poles, Nordic walking, etc. Orientation: use of maps, field orientation, compass, GPS, mobile apps.

• "Hebertismo" and natural gymnastics: how to interpret the natural environment according to a proposal of differentiated physical activity, from gymnastics to open air to Hebert paths in nature; The natural environment as an ideal setting for physical activity from the elderly to the child, from the professional athlete to people with special needs.

• Adventure, as an ever-present dimension of outdoor activities, and its usefulness and importance in education, in human growth and formation, in team work.
Management of adventurous situations; the risk and the danger; the different professionals with whom to collaborate in outdoor training projects.
Social groups at risk and adventure: social promotion projects and empowerment.

During the activity practiced, the theoretical elements presented above will be introduced, through an active comparison methodology. Students will be given a handout and after each meeting the students will be required to produce a written paper, develop different aspects for each activity, according to the indications that will be provided by the teacher.

Examination Methods

The course exam will take into account the different written reports that each student will elaborate after each of the experiences they make and end with a final synthesis interview of the entire program being conducted.