I INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
PROFESSIONALISATION IN MINORITY SPORTS
iii multiplier sport event
bmx european project
TRAINING TO WIN
i simultaneous International Conference
Between 24 and 28 October 2022, partners of the BMX – Training to win project organised the first International Conference on Professionalization in Minority Sports.
The event involved the various partner countries at the same time: Spain, Portugal, Malta, Italy, Slovakia, Latvia, which proposed several interesting activities and initiatives.
This simultaneous Conference reached riders, coaches, trainers, researchers, local governments and sport managers as well as students through different local and international events based on the latest research on how to develop a career in minority sports, as BMX, parkour, skateboarding, and other sports in which BMX project results could be a model.
An opening-conference has been followed by thematic small and focused sessions, allowing participants to interact between them and with the speakers. Furthermore, case solving and applied research has been explained.
topics during their local events
The different partners countries dealt with the following topics during their local events:
- Dual careers in minority sports: student-athletes perspective and athletes-entrepreneur perspectives
- Personal and professional development for minority sports
- Gender in minority sports
- The economy of the minority
- Training for training: educational tools
streaming conference
On 27 October all the partner countries of the BMX project participated in the streaming conference on the important theme of professionalization in Enduro MTB.
The feedback from participants from different countries was extremely positive, as well as many curiosities emerged about these increasingly relevant issues in today’s world of sport
multiplier sport events
spain
Conferencia Internacional sobre Profesionalización en Deportes Minoritarios
Location: San Jorge University, Villanueva de Gallego.
Number of participants: 28 between students, teachers, and sport experts.
International Conference on Professionalization in Minority Sports in Spain
The day began with an inaugural presentation by Juan Manual Murua entitled “Sports in the Long Tail: Long Tail Economics, Sport and Social Development.” This was followed by the first round table on “Communication, image, and sports brand”. Marco Misiego (Marco Misiego Digital Marketing), Ana Aranda (La mar de gente Comunicación) and Isabel Macías (Aragonese Athletics Federation) participated in it. After a short break, the second round table was held in which the “Management models in minority sports” were discussed with Fernando París (FAGDE – Federation of Sports Management Associations of Spain-), José Pelegrín (Zaragoza Deporte) and Iñigo Ayllón (Spanish Mountain Federation). Finally, Diego Grasa (Fox Racing Shox) explained his presentation “Professionalization of Enduro MTB”.
watch again...
Professionalisation in Enduro MTB
SLOVAKIA
KONFERENCIA O PROFESIONALIZÁCII V MINORITNÝCH ŠPORTOCH
Location: ŠENKVICE, SLOVAKIA
Number of participants: 30 people, officials, coaches, commissaries, parents, riders,
International Conference on Professionalization in Minority Sports in SLOVAKIA
The meeting started by participating online and watching the live stream of conference videos. For most of our audience, the presentation of Diego (Fox racing) was the target, to learn about the enduro racing sport, and how Spain has taken big progress in the professionalization of this sport.
The local conference started with an annual meeting of all clubs competing in BMX Racing in Slovakia, followed by the program of our local conference:
The conference was organised in the facility of the local Indoor BMX Racing Facility (CK Twister) close to the capital city of Bratislava, with the participation of major Slovak BMX Racing clubs (officials, coaches, commissaries, parents, riders, …). With limited space, the audience was limited to 30 people simultaneously.
On the meeting of clubs were discussed the last season, next year, budgets, future, plans and ideas for improvement in BMX sport in Slovakia, we have tried to plan the next season’s races etc…
Then parallel sessions of Trainers and Commissaires workshops were organized. At the Trainers workshop, the riders from several clubs were collected, and performed an example training under the supervision and lean of the P. Palasthy. Trainers, adepts, and parents from other clubs had a chance to join the training, ask questions and consult the questions and ideas together.
At the same time, the commissaries, including parents willing to join this “profession” held a workshop. They have discussed the changes in the rules for next year, incidents during the year, and possible improvements for next seasons.
The event and the whole day ended with a Lesson/Presentation about the Equipment in BMX Racing presented by Marcus, where coaches, parents and riders had a chance to learn about the construction, trends, tuning and sizing of BMX bikes.
As support for “I. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PROFESSIONALISATION IN MINORITY SPORTS”, the Slovak Cycling federation organised a “MULTIPLIER SPORT EVENT OKTÓBER 2022 ŠENKVICE, SLOVAKIA“ dedicated to BMX Racing sport.
LATVIA
Sarptautiskā konference par profesionālo apmācību mazāk populāros sporta veidos
Location: Valmiera
Number of participants: 117, most of them youth sports coaches.
International Conference on Professionalization in Minority Sports in Latvia
Participants at the conference were addressed by the representatives of the “Training to Win” Latvian project team – leader Sandija Zaļupe and the BMX coach, rider and project ambassador of the Children and Youth Sports School of Smiltene Renārs Auga. Colleagues were also supported by the BMX coach of the Valmiera Sports School Olafs Lakučs.
A short introduction was followed by an online lecture by Spain’s Diego Grassa on mountain biking “Fox Racing Shox”.
Later the speaker’s baton was taken over by sports doctor Jānis Kaupe of “Olympic Unit of Latvia”. The doctor has worked with representatives of various sports, including BMX riders and bobsledders, which could be called minority, but no less important sports. At the conference, J. Kaupe spoke on the topic about the testing of physical characteristics, the physiological basis and applicability in daily training. After the lecture the participants of the conference asked the doctor many individual questions, which confirmed that the lecture was valuable and relevant.
malta
International Conference on Professionalisation in Street Sport
Location: Access Point, Qormi
Number of participants: 15 athletes and representatives of other organisations
International Conference on Professionalization in Minority Sports in malta
The Conference started with MSSA giving an introduction to the conference scheudle and also information on the Training To Win Project course that has been developed over the year.
After the introduction, the room dialed in the international conference with all the other partners and followed the Professionalisation in Enduro MTB Talk.
Once the MTB talk was finished, the conference followed with an Informative workshop on Professionalisation in Sport with Dr. Renzo Kerr-cumbo, where a lot was discussed on what does it mean to be a professional in sport and if we really want our sports to be professionalised.
The conference then was closed by President of MSSA Karl Naja, where he dicussed the future of street sport in Malta. He Started with an overview of MSSA’s successful projects and activities done over the past 2 years and followed by giving information on the on going project MSSA is currently doing and what the future plans are.
italy
La professionalizzazione negli sport minoritari
Location: I.S. EINAUDI PARETO. Palermo
Number of participants: 28 between students, teachers, and sport expert.
International Conference on Professionalization in Minority Sports in italy
At the local level, CEIPES involved in the First International Conference ”La professionalizzazione negli sport minoritari” several students and teachers of the IS EINAUDI PARETO institute in Palermo.
At first the BMX – Training to win project with its objectives, activities, educational e-learning tools and expected results was presented. Subsequently, a debate was activated on the salient issue of dual career in sport, giving space to the point of view of student-athletes and teachers.
Specifically, the issues of dual career in minority sports were explored, giving space to exponents of female and male Flag Football teams, an expanding sport in Italy.
TRAINING TO WIN - The bmx EU proyect
The main aim of Training to win – BMX project is to promote the physical, psychical and socio-relational benefits of BMX for children and teenagers
BMX Training to Win is an Erasmus+ Sport co-founded Project (Ref. 622085-EPP-1-2020-1-ES-SPO-SCP) that pretends to promote education in and through sport with a special focus on skills development, with an emphasis on coach training to improve the quality of the sport’s career development and safety of young athletes (most BMX coaches are former riders without specific training and BMX)
The project is coordinated jointly by the BMX School Zaragoza sports club and the higher education institution Fundación Universidad San Jorge, both from Spain. Its partners’ partner countries are the Portuguese Cycling Federation (Portugal), Slovak Cycling Federation (Slovakia), the International Centre for the Promotion of Education and Development (Italy), Malta Street Sports Association (Malta), and the Association “Board of Directors of Latvian Sports Education Institutions from Latvia. Local partners in Spain are the Spanish Cycling Federation, the Aragonese Cycling Federation, and Zaragoza Deporte Municipal.
The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.