While in Monte-Carlo the 9^th Athletes Forum and 5^th Assembly of the European Athletes opens and welcomes about one hundred athletes and delegates from 39 National Olympic Committees in Europe, the importance of the role of coaches for athlete’s skills development and society at large is focused by the Estonian rotating Presidency of the EU, as one of its priorities.

An article published by the EU eventually reminds that quality coaching plays a central role in ensuring the correct development of sports skills and can help determine if an athlete pursues a professional career in sports.

The EU article states that quality in teaching and coaching is an essential part of Erasmus+ Sport. Quality coaching became an explicit priority in the 2017 call for proposals.

More specifically, Erasmus+ aims to:

• promote education in and through sport with a special focus on skills development (for small collaborative partnerships, max. grant €60,000).
• promote education in and through sport with a special focus on skills development, as well as support the implementation of the “EU Guidelines on Dual Careers of Athletes” (for ‘regular’ collaborative partnerships, max. grant €400,000).