Unlimited Sport For Everyone

Unlimited Sport for Everyone is a project initiated by an incredible Turkish Decathlon collaborator: Melis Basak. Melis works at the Decathlon Nautilus in Istanbul and is also a member of the Unlimited Sport Organization (SSD). The aim of the association is to offer young blind people an accessible and adapted sports environment.

Unlimited Sport For Everyone is a project that aims to promote the practice of outdoor sports for marginalized and excluded people for whom the practice of sport will boost their mental and physical capacities. The project leaders want to guarantee a safe environment for these disabled people and allow them to discover the sensations of kayaking, cycling, walking, swimming, yoga and many other disciplines! ??

Today, the Board of Directors of the Foundation has decided to support this Turkish project and all this would not have been possible without Melis’ work force and desire. Here is her story :

“When I started university, I got back into biking, which was my favorite childhood activity, as a mode of transportation. By joining bike clubs and participating in their rides I learned more about biking and met new people. Around this time I also tried tandem biking. Tandem biking opened the doors for new adventures and thanks to tandem biking I made many good friends. With one of these friends we decided to tour Turkey by tandem bike which was our dream for a long time.

In May 2018 we started our 6-month long bike journey that covered 5 regions of Turkey. We toured around Eastern, South-Eastern, Mediterranean, Aegean and Marmara Regions by a tandem and a single bike. We called the project My Pedal Friend.

During our journey, people with different disabilities pedaled with us for 10-15 day periods. We contacted the bike clubs and NGOs that work with people with disabilities to introduce tandem biking to more people and we started biking with many people who were trying tandem biking for the first time.

In May 2018 we started our 6-month long bike journey that covered 5 regions of Turkey. We toured around Eastern, South-Eastern, Mediterranean, Aegean and Marmara Regions by a tandem and a single bike. We called the project My Pedal Friend.

During our journey, people with different disabilities pedaled with us for 10-15 day periods. We contacted the bike clubs and NGOs that work with people with disabilities to introduce tandem biking to more people and we started biking with many people who were trying tandem biking for the first time.

(…)

As a result in many cities around Turkey now more people are tandem biking and our number is increasing day by day.

I believe that no matter what their disabilities are, all individuals have the right to participate in sports independently without needing a middleman. I cannot wait to reach out to more people to share the joy of doing sports together with the help of Unlimited Sports for Everyone project.”

Hand in hand the SSD association of Melis and the project leaders at Decathlon Ozgurai and Ali have planned to organize activities throughout the year for the beneficiaries:

Each season there will be canoeing, swimming, camping, yoga, cycling, pilates and dragon boat activities.

On behalf of the entire Foundation team, congratulations on your investment and we look forward to discovering new projects with Turkey! ?