The Sport Community Against Eating Disorders (SCAED) is a 30-month Erasmus+ Sport Cooperation Partnership that addresses one of the most overlooked challenges in grassroots sport: the increasing prevalence of eating disorders among amateur athletes. While professional athletes often have access to nutritionists and psychologists, coaches, families, and local sport organisations frequently lack the knowledge and tools needed to identify risky behaviours and provide appropriate support. SCAED was created to bridge this gap and to promote mental health and well-being as essential components of sport participation.

The project brings together six organisations from Italy, Bulgaria, Croatia, North Macedonia, Greece, and Poland, combining expertise in sport, public health, research, and community development. Its main objective is to strengthen the capacity of amateur sport stakeholders to prevent, recognise, and address eating disorders through education, awareness raising, and transnational cooperation. At the same time, the project seeks to create a European network of organisations committed to tackling eating disorders in sport and promoting the exchange of knowledge and good practices.

To achieve these goals, SCAED will first investigate the characteristics and prevalence of eating disorders among amateur athletes across Europe, generating evidence and identifying existing gaps in prevention and support systems. The findings will be transformed into practical and accessible resources, including a research report, a manual for coaches and sport organisations, and a map of European entities and services working in the field of eating disorder prevention and intervention.

The project will then put these resources into practice through introductory workshops and capacity-building activities involving coaches, families, sport practitioners, and other relevant stakeholders. By equipping local communities with preventive and reactive tools and fostering collaboration among organisations from different countries and sectors, SCAED aims to create a sustainable European movement that places athlete well-being and mental health at the centre of grassroots sport development.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.