How can athletes and brands be educated about the environmental and societal challenges of tomorrow's competitions?

 

Eurosima partners with Outdoor Sport Valley for The Ordinary Project training program

 

The Ordinary Project is a year-long support program that transforms athletes and their sponsors into committed advocates for environmental and social transition in outdoor sports. With the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and the 2030 Alps Olympics approaching, in addition to WCT & ISA competitions and tours, athletes in the world of snow sports can give themselves the chance to improve.

 

WHAT IS IT?

Ordinary Project is an "academy" for athletes and brands, designed by Outdoor Sports Valley (OSV) and Protect Our Winters France (POW) to make sports sponsorship a concrete lever for transition. Over the course of a year, the program offers a collective, demanding, and highly operational pathway to move from awareness to measurable action on climate, biodiversity, and social justice issues in the sports industry.

• • Timing: 12-month group support program
  • Format: 7 modules ( remote work sessions, in-person workshops, field immersion time)
  • Objective: to transform athletes and sponsors into leaders capable ofdriving concrete change in their communities and organizations.
  • Key themes: carbon and energy impact, preservation of the playing field, social justice, the role of narratives and images in sport.
  • Positive impact approach : reducing the negative impacts associated with the sport and sponsorship, while maximizing the social and environmental benefits of the projects carried out.

In the background, Ordinary Project also responds to a context rich in upcoming international sporting events: the World Cup in the Americas (Canada, USA, Mexico), the 2027 World Cycling Championships in France, and the 2030 Alpine Winter Olympics.

>> Read the presentation The Ordinary Project

 

WHO IS IT FOR?

The program is aimed at the entire outdoor sports ecosystem that wants to align performance, image, and responsibility.

• • Athletes from all outdoor disciplines, whether they are at the beginning of their careers or already highly exposed in the media.
  • Brands and sponsors wishing to structure or strengthen their engagement strategy in relation to their athletes.
  • Marketing/communications teams and CSR managers seeking to make sponsorship more consistent with their commitments.
  • Territories, events, federations, and institutional partners involved in the transformation of the outdoor sector.

By bringing together athletes, brands, NGOs, and institutions, Ordinary Project aims to engage all stakeholders and decision-makers: the program focuses on shared responsibility and cooperation rather than blame.

 

HOW DOES IT WORK?

1. 1. Ordinary Project is based on a structured approach centered on learning,co-construction, and collective action.
   2. Learning sessions: presentations by experts, feedback, and case studies to understand the climate, biodiversity, and social issues related to the outdoors.
   3. Mentoring: each athlete-brand pairing receives support from athletes who are already trained and committed to these issues.
   4. Co-creation workshops: group sessions to develop concrete projects (campaigns, content formats, field actions, internal initiatives, etc.).
   5. Collective projects: following the immersion, initiatives are rolled out to strengthen the sector's responsibility (raising public awareness, transforming practices or events, new partnership frameworks, etc.).

The program is being rolled out across Europe, with the aim of gradually linking different territories in order to increase the number of impact points where communities of practitioners live and play.

 

WITH WHOM?

The project is based on a strong alliance between OSV, Protect Our Winters France, and a broad network of committed outdoor sports stakeholders.

• • Outdoor Sports Valley (OSV): outdoor industry association, which launched the initiative.
  • Protect Our Winters France (POW): An NGO that uses a passion for mountains and outdoor sports as a driving force for climate and social justice, responsible for the operational development of the program.
  • OSV & Eurosima member brands: associate partners who support the initiative to fundamentally transform the sponsorship–engagement relationship.
  • Experienced athletes (Flora Arztner, Thomas Delfino), mentors (Thibault Liebengu from Air Coop for Mael Besson from Sport 1.5), institutions, regions, and sporting events: all contribute to amplifying the scope of projects and ensuring the transition is sustainable.

By combining CSR expertise, the influence of athletes, and the capacity for action of brands, Ordinary Project is laying the foundations for a new generation of sponsorship: more responsible, more aligned with the expectations of practitioners, and better able to preserve our shared playing field.

 

Athletes are brand ambassadors, and brands promote a lifestyle that depends on the climate. It's up to you!

To join the class of 2026, contact Guillaume Bouvaist guillaume@outdoorsportsvalley.org