THE PROJECT

The project

The game of table tennis is one of the most engaging activities for the brain and even older players can play table tennis recreationally. It is a fast moving, competitive activity which positively affects physical fitness levels, improves sustained attention and enhances the development of visuospatial skills. Due to these characteristics and the accessibility of the sport, it has been proved through research that table tennis can be effectively used as a prevention and rehabilitation program for people suffering or at risk to develop Alzheimer's and dementia since it activates up to five different sections of their brains simultaneously.

The aim of hAlt project, therefore, is in cooperation with table tennis clubs, sports organizations, universities on sports science and technical partners to create awareness on the benefits of table tennis to the brain and older adults, to engage people with, or at risk to develop Alzheimer's or Dementia to table tennis activities, to offer them specialized training by adequately trained table tennis coaches (certified as "coaches with knowledge and perception of Alzheimer's and dementia") while at the same time monitoring their activity and bio signals through wearables and an associated gamification application for socializing and attracting more peers.

The main activities in the project include:

Analysis of the recent evidence in Sport and Dementia

Assessment of the current physical, mental and social status of people with Dementia as well as attitudes towards sports, quality of life and physical activity.

E-learning platform, online community, wearables and monitoring App

The aim of this activity is the creation of e-learning platform and the development wearables for the monitoring of the progress made by people with Dementia. An online community on Dementia and Sports platform will act also as a tool for carers and parents of people with Dementia to find certified table tennis coaches and physical education teachers in their area.

hAlt Curriculum

The Curriculum is that it will be based on real needs, will be the result of a co-design approach and will cover exactly what a coach needs to know in order to train people with Dementia. It is obvious that the curriculum will be easily transferable to other sports as well.

Interventional table tennis programs for people with Dementia

Table tennis programs will be carried out in each country by the certified coaches and physical education teachers and their effectiveness will be assessed. In each national setting, 6 people with Dementia will be selected and each coach will be responsible of a team of 3 persons, attending at least 1 training session per week for a period of six (6) months.

Pilot Training and certification of table tennis coaches and physical education teachers

Organization of pilot training activities in the partner countries. The training will be directed at table tennis coaches and physical education teachers and will take place online.