Eighteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

The academic literature on Sport-for-Development and Peace (SDP) is no longer a novelty. However, there are scarcely studied topics such as university-based initiatives, as well as those of mixed and/or unified sports. Tiro en Braille (Braille Shot) is a Mexican university-based sport, completely designed by undergraduate students with the guidance of professors. Tiro en Braille, as an organization (indeed it is both a sport and a SDP organization) has developed the VECTOR-I methodology, which was intentionally designed to contribute to the fulfillment of SDGs 3, 4, 5, 8, 11, 16, and 17. The methodology also aims at recovering traditional Mexican sports. Furthermore, it prohibits the use of fossil fuels and inputs, while requiring that the resulting sport activity is suitable to be played in a mixed (gender) and unified (ability) format. Tiro en Braille has three core components: 1) teaching; 2) research, and 3) a inclusive sport activity. Covid-19 stopped the inauguration tournament from taking place in April 2020. The first (experimental) tournament was played during May 2022. This paper presents the results using the VECTOR-I methodology as a template/benchmark. The findings are both quantitative (based on questionnaires), as well as qualitative, i.e., based on participant observation as well as on interviews at the end of the tournament. Finally, the findings may orient SDP initiatives in other geographies as a result of the semi-flexibility of the VECTOR-I methodology.