Erasmus+ KA2 – Sport
Project number: 2014—3140 / 007 - 001
26.01.2017 – 27.01.2017
Transnational Project Meeting 3
Malta
Project Evaluation
ESTPORT First Evaluation Meeting – UCAM – completed on 17th-18th October 2016
The project evaluation based on the open questionnaire & face-to-face interviews,
was conducted with the following actors involved in the project implementation &
development:





Student Athlete
Sport Tutor
Finance Manager
Project Manager
Sports Service Staff
– Vicente Guardiola
– Juan Alfonso Garcia
– David Heiser
- Antonio Sanchez Pato
- Pablo Rosique
Two day evaluation process was successfully accomplished with open & honest
feedback creating very positive results with some room for improvement.
>> Case study
Student Athlete Vicente Guardiola of UCAM &
Leigh Robinson from Europa Community
>> Student Athlete Feedback
Athlete - Vicente Guardiola, 24 year old male Decathlete. In his second year studying to be a teacher.
Key feedback points:
 Communication has been excellent with his sport tutor and they regularly communicate either in person
or by phone.
 He felt the benefits of having a sport tutor were to give him career advice, help with time management
and assignments/deadlines and providing academic support. Also acting as a good liaison between himself
and his lecturers.
 Vicente is very happy attending UCAM as it has made his life very easy! The sport tutor programme has
had a real impact on him both academically and with his sport.
 He feels the service is really well structured and his sport tutor is really easy to get in contact with and
to communicate with. The sport tutor is also very supportive towards his athletic needs.
 The student-athlete reported no difficulties to being involved in the sport tutor programme – he is very
happy.
 However, he did identify one weakness! He feels there should be more understanding from his teachers
about his athletic and academic requirements - even when they liaise direct with his sport tutor.
>> Student Athlete Case Study
Athlete - Vicente Guardiola, 24 year old male Decathlete. In his second year studying to be a teacher.
How have you been specifically helped your sport tutor:
Vincente had a career dilemma and was unsure which profession to choose or what was required to
become Teacher or Lecturer.
He met with his sport tutor who was able to offer him neutral and positive career advise on which
courses and training programmes he would need to attend and undertake to gain the necessary
qualifications to become either of his choices.
The intervention from his sport tutor was very important to Vincente as it now gave him confidence and
much clearer picture on how and what he needed to do to make the right decision for his future.
Vincente feels that without the support and guidance from a sport tutor figure, he may have had to
consider taking a year out of his schedule to seriously think his future, career goals and to research
what he needed to do to achieve the right career path.
Sport Tutor meeting with Juan Alfonso Garcia & assistants, Lourdes Merono
Garcia & Maria de la Trinidad Morales Belando of UCAM
>>Sport Tutor Feedback
Tutor – Juan Alfonso Garcia, Lecturer in Physical Activity At UCAM
Key feedback points:
 Communication has been excellent with his athletes mainly through phone calls, text messages and
emails. He keeps in constant contact, and is a point of contact between all parties.
 He felt the benefits of the service are being able to provide academic support, time management
advise and to be a sounding board when the athlete needs some support.
 Juan regularly keeps his athletes up-to-date with access to studies, what subjects to select, exams
calendar, how to contact their lecturers and justification for assistance on the basis of training and/
or competitions.
 The sport tutor model definitely assists the athletes and allows them to study like a normal
academic student. The athletes are now open minded about their long term careers - not just their
sporting careers. The athletes are very proud to be apart of the Estport project.
 Over the past year the development of the programme has improved the relationships between the
tutors and the athletes – much better than previous years. The systems that are in place now are
more fluid than before, and the coordination between the sport service team is very fast and
efficient. There is a definite togetherness as the whole university works together.
 Juan did feel that there are too many athletes to look after at one time and more sport tutors were
needed.
 He also felt that it may be more beneficial if the tutor had more knowledge in the sport of the
athletes they were looking after, leading to a better understand of the athletes needs.
>>Sport Tutor Case Study
Athlete – 25 year old soccer player studying for a Degree in Sport Science.
How did you specifically help your Student-Athlete:
The athlete in question had a heavy academic and sporting schedule which often clashed. Towards the
end of the soccer season there were a lot of competitions to be played and it was also exam period.
Juan spoke at length on the phone with the athlete to decide if the athlete could continue with the
degree course because of the heavy scheduling.
The decision made by Juan was to speak with the University and the athletes lecturers to move the
exams as the athlete needed more time to complete the work in preparation for the exams due to the
soccer fixture pile up. In doing so the athlete had to be isolated from the other students taking the
exams at the normal time.
3 exams were moved to accommodate the athlete. The athlete took the exams just before the school
holidays and passed with 75% and above on each exam.
Juan met with the athlete to discuss their soccer schedule and exam calendar for the following seasons
and discussed forward planning and efficient time management to avoid any confliction for the future.
>>Sports Service Staff feedback
Pablo Rosique, Director General of Sports @ UCAM
Key role played by the sports service team:
 The Department functions as a liaison between the student-athlete and the sport tutor in the first
instance, also assigning the ST with the SA.
 They are responsible for all entry paperwork to the University for the student-athlete.
 Sporting calendars are given to the STs for all of the SAs they look after.
 The sports service staff also act as the logistics team, sorting out the SAs food and accommodation
amongst other things.
Key positive points:
 There is now a lot more pride and image for all of the University, not just the athletes, but also the
Alumni.
 All of the SAs are fully supported academically and also with their sporting requirements.
 The SSS gets to work with the best athletes in Spain.
 The Olympics was a huge boost for UCAM and became an aid to marketing activities. 11 of the 17
medals won for Spain in the Olympics were by athletes from UCAM.
 This season has seen the mens soccer team was promoted and the mens basketball team is now
playing in the EuroCup.
 Pablo reported it was no problem to recruit ST as the programme runs very effectively and smoothly
for all.
>>Sports Service Staff feedback
Pablo Rosique, Director General of Sports @ UCAM
Key strengths of the sport tutor model:
 One of the key factors was the capability of the University to adapt to the programme and accept
any challenges head on.
 The image, profile and the brand return of UCAM since the project started has risen significantly,
and of course the success at the Olympics was a real positive.
 There has also been a role reversal recently! It is now the athletes looking to attend UCAM and not
UCAM having to recruit them.
 Pablo firmly believes the programme is an investment and not an expenditure.
 The communication between everyone at the University who is involved in the programme plays a
key role in helping make the programme very successful.
>>Project Manager – Antonio Sanchez Pato
Key points and feedback:
 Each ST is responsible for approximately 25 Student Athletes and there are 22 Sport tutors at UCAM.
 The tutors each teach their own subject too – the subjects include: Law, journalism, nutrition, civil
engineering, medicine, physiotherapy to name a few.
 Sport tutorship is 15 years old and the project has always been in place at UCAM and the success of the
athletes has always been very good with various World and Olympic champions coming from UCAM.
 A former world Bronze medallist is now a tutor at UCAM.
 The Rio Olympics was very successful for UCAM as 11of the 17 medals Spain won were by athletes at
UCAM.
 Student athlete numbers are increasing at UCAM and the dominance of the programme means it is now
more available to athletes and the profile has been raised.
 UCAM are the leaders in the Spanish University Sports League table with over 150 medals won already.
 One of the biggest supporting facts is that the President of UCAM is very passionate about sport and of
course academics.
>>Project Manager – Antonio Sanchez Pato
Key difficulties & feedback:
 The biggest problem UCAM found was the initial proposal & finding suitable partners & student
athletes to take part in the project.
 The other difficulty was getting the funding for the project approved.
 UCAM are still trying to find a level platform that accommodates all countries needs – so
everyone can understand and work with the same tools.
 Antonio feels there is always room for improvement, especially as the other Universities are
getting stronger and challenging UCAM.
 Another challenge is to keep the sport tutors motivated and provide more training for them. All
sport tutors are very busy teaching their own subjects also at UCAM.
>>Finance Manager – David Heiser
Key difficulties & feedback:
 Guidelines did not exist when the project was approved and written.
 The budget had to be changed due to new guidelines.
 How to manage the partners – initially he over estimated and how to
reimburse the partners.
 Problems with partners justification of the costs, late payments &
insufficient justification.
Key lessons learnt:
 Communication of the financial rules should have been dealt with
from the start of the project.
 Discuss individually with each partner to clarify the systems &
financial rules.
 To be more focused on deadlines (Internal).
Key support points:
 More contact and input from the European Commission – the officer at
the European Commission is readily available and vey helpful.
 Electronic online tools for help – timesheets etc. Uniformed tools for
all of the partners to use that are simple and effective.
>>Conclusion – Leigh Robinson
The project is operating very successfully at UCAM & the whole University is working hard together to
provide a smooth, simple & very effective service for the Student-Athletes & Sport Tutors.
Rio Olympics was a huge boost for the profile of UCAM as 65% of the Spain's medals were won by
UCAM athletes. I certainly felt how proud the whole University was when I was there for two days &
had the pleasure to meet some of the Olympic athletes & here the President of the school & the
President of Spain's IOC speak with great pride & passion.
All Departments are very happy with the systems that are in place, making everyone's life easy &
without complications.
However, there is still room for improvement across the programme to continue to provide the best
support for all that are involved in the project, & to continue the high standards that sets UCAM apart
from the other Universities in Spain.
Big thank you to Antonio & his team at UCAM for being
the perfect hosts.
Thank you for your attention!
Leigh Robinson
Operations & Project
Manager
[email protected]
Jeremy Yelland
EU Programme
Manager
[email protected]
Happy Birthday Oliver!!!!