The 29th, 30th and 31th of October, UISP Territorial Committee Ciriè Settimo Chivasso and four other partners, UISP Alessandria, the Association Sport For All Suceava from Romania, the association Courage Foundation from Bulgaria, the Freedom Gate Greece from Greece, took part in the kick-off meeting – held at the Atlantic Hotel in Borgaro Torinese – SPIRITS. “SPIRITS Project is a rather unusual project compared to those that the Ciriè Settimo Chivasso Committee is accustomed to” Rinaldi commented. “In this case we are not dealing with children and adolescents, but with adults: SPIRITS is in fact aimed at training operators who do voluntary work inside the detention facilities, in order to use sport not only as a means of emancipation, but also of social redemption. The collaboration and valuable experience of the UISP Territorial Committee is fundamental for us. Alexandria has been working with prisons for about 20 years “. “Our collaboration with the prison facilities began almost by chance, because a friend who worked inside the structures mentioned us the need to practice sports inmates” said the former president and current member of the Board of Directors of the Alexandrian Committee Franco Galliani. “In all these years we have had a more or less intense presence depending on the different directors with whom we have interfaced in both the prisons of Alessandria, the San Michele House of Reclusion and the” Cantiello e Gaeta “District House. Besides the presence of the two Territorial Committees, the European SPIRITS project foresees three other partners: the Association Sport For All Suceava from Romania, the association Courage Foundation from Bulgaria, the Freedom Gate Greece from Greece, which has already worked in detention facilities , but in the juvenile field. During the initial meeting, various technical issues were discussed, such as those related to the budget or the structuring of training modules, but also on which sports activities to propose, both considering the possible spaces available, and the liking. Once again the presence of Galliani, which illustrated the disciplines that are most interesting, was indispensable. “The gym activities always has a great response, followed by football. Then there are activities we call seasonal, which have a more or less intense participation depending on the different years. Among these we have the game of chess and ping pong, or yoga, which has a good response especially among collaborators of justice (those who spoke against mafia), subject to a strong stress. Furthermore, in one of the two structures, that of San Michele, we also practice and organize running events. Among these the StrAlessandria and ViviCittà, an event organized by UISP Nazionale. The UISP Training Course for Referees is also a great success, as prisoners appreciate acquiring authority within the playing field “. The SPIRITS project will last two years: an intermediate meeting will take place towards 2019 in the city of Plovdiv, in Bulgaria, while the final one will take place in Greece.