In Cyprus, the focus groups were a joint effort by GDA Sports, INQUIRY FUSE, and CYENS, involving 58 children and youth alongside 40 parents. The sessions took place at two football academies and a rhythmic gymnastics club in Nicosia. A standout finding was the high enthusiasm for technology; children across all ages expressed interest in a digital mobile app, with older teenagers specifically requesting features like AI-driven chat, emotion recognition, and immediate coping strategies. While younger participants (ages 8–11) demonstrated great energy in sharing personal stories, older youth (16–18) focused on the challenges of balancing intensive training with academic demands and managing performance-related self-doubt. The strong internal recruitment and high engagement levels underscored a significant local commitment to enhancing mental resilience in youth sports.
The Greek focus groups were coordinated through a partnership between Symplexis and the University of Thessaly, involving 21 children and 11 adult stakeholders from volleyball and basketball backgrounds. By conducting sessions in familiar gym environments and utilizing the existing trust between researcher-coaches and their athletes, the team fostered an environment where children felt safe to participate enthusiastically. A key methodological observation was the “social desirability bias,” where participants’ prior relationships with facilitators may have influenced them to present more positive elements. Findings showed that while Greek children were less familiar with digital emotional regulation tools, they were highly receptive to learning through play and team-building activities. These insights will guide the creation of “bite-sized” and visually appealing educational materials that avoid overly academic language.
In Italy, CESIE ETS organized sessions in Palermo with 13 children and 17 adult stakeholders. To navigate a local cultural taboo regarding mental health, the facilitator, a psychologist, moved away from direct questioning to use embodied learning and metaphor-based activities like “islands” and “traffic-light mapping”. This play-based approach was vital for children (ages 8–12), who used creative expression and games to reflect on personal well-being and group dynamics. Adult sessions revealed that personal mental health is often viewed as a private matter, but small-group work successfully encouraged them to reflect on how their own behaviors and stress regulation impact their children. These findings emphasize that Italian resources should prioritize informal, flexible, and relational tools over strictly digital applications.