art4sport ONLUS Association
Sport as therapy
Use sport as physical and psychological recovery for children with physical challenges
art4sport ONLUS Association
Art4sport association firmly believes in sport as therapy to help physical and psychological recovery for children with limb prosthesis.
We as art4sport team aim at enhance the quality of life of children with limb prosthesis and the one of their families as well.
Our Mission:
art4sport’s foundation is inspired by Bebe Vio’s story, a young girl with many different passions including the one for fencing. At the end of 2008, at the age of 11, she was struck by meningococcus meningitis which ended up to both arms and legs amputation.
Nevertheless, within a year after this episode, she has already came back to her normal life and one of the main motivating factors that brought her to react with strength and determination was her immense desire to go back practicing her beloved sport one again.
Teresa and Ruggero, Bebe’s parents, started getting informed on the sport prosthesis and equipment world for children with physical challenges. They found out that the Italian National Health System does not provide prostheses for practicing sport then their purchase is at the expenses of the families.
Therefore, to make up for this lack, in 2009 art4sport was born. This is a reference point for Bebe and for the other children with her same needs, all of them thight up by the same dream: practicing sport.
The name “art4sport” (art for sport) comes from the active contribution Bebe has given to the association since the very beginning. She always had outstanding artistic skills, thus the idea of creating t-shirts, gadgets and other items all inspired by her drawnings was born.
All these products are meant to raise funds for art4sport projects.
art4sport ONLUS Association
Sport is extremely important for children who have to use prosthesis as it is very motivating and satisfactory, it enhances social bonding and physical fitness as well as enabling people to gain more awareness of their own body.
In order to practice sport, these kids often need sport prosthesis and many others specific equipment (such as wheelchairs, lifts, tracksuits, etc.).
Devices as sport prosthesis and equipment are extremely expensive and their costs are generally not covered by the Italian National Healthcare/Health System. They need to be designed and projected specifically each time depending on the kind of child’s amputation and the sport he or she wants to practice.
If we also consider the necessity to modify and/or often change them in order to follow natural kids growth it all sums up to extremely high costs for the families.
These costs are covered, though, thank to funds and grant provided by art4sport.
One more problem to deal with is the absence of appropriate sports centers and the difficulties for single sport club to obtain adequate facilities to enable disables athletes practicing sport.
For that reason, art4sport follows and promote projects to better equip sports centers where and when necessary.