On May 17, a sport symposium “Good governance in grassroots sport” took place at the Liepaja Concert Hall “The Great Amber, which was attended by representative from the Parliament, the Ministry of Education and Science, sports federations, local sports organizers and the medical industry. During the symposium recommendations for a systematic approach to active lifestyles and to improve public health were presented.

To discuss grassroots sports development, to share with good practice examples on how to maintain and develop infrastructure, as well as on organizing activities, an international sport symposium “Good governance in grassroots sport” took place in Liepāja at the Concert Hall “The Great Amber”. The event was organized by the Latvian Sports Federation Council (LSFC) within the project “AGON” which is coordinated by the Erasmus + program.

During the symposium recommendations that were developed by LSFC were presented, which is a significant contribution to the development of grassroots sport. The recommendations are designed to offer measures to help improve a systematic approach, which is necessary for promoting active lifestyles and to improve overall public health by involving children and grown-ups in athletic activities. In the recommendations important grassroots sport suggestions as cooperation between the public sector, non-governmental organizations and the private sector, infrastructure and resources, as well as grassroots sport promotion and human involvement can be found.

As stated in the recommendations, good governance in grassroots sport includes mutual cooperation between public institutions, local governments, non-governmental organizations, private sector actors, as well as volunteers and sports enthusiast informal groups. Recommendations will be distributed to the European Commission and leading sports organizations in the Member States.

Symposium on “Good governance in grassroots sport” took place in four sections. State and local government employees, non-governmental organizations, sports teachers and medical area representatives took part in it.

The first discussion was devoted to the cooperation between the state, local authorities and the private sector, non-governmental organizations. Successful cooperation between these five sectors should encourage wider community involvement in organized grassroots sport events, ensuring a favourable legal framework, organizational support, or organized sports events. Sector representatives discussed what each of the involved actors should do to create successful co-operation, which also would develop organized grassroots sport activities.

The second session of the symposium was devoted to the sports infrastructure facilities and human resources. Successful grassroots sports development and implementation of activities requires three interrelated resources – finance, infrastructure and people. State, local and non-governmental sector representatives discussed the best ways how to develop resources in order to encourage grassroots sport development.

Symposium third discussion was devoted to the promotion of physical activity and people involvement. In order to promote grassroots sport and promote active lifestyle with the help of educational media and marketing campaign, it is necessary for local governments, educational institutions and media representatives to be active. It was discussed how to adapt and improve marketing and promotional activities for different groups in society, including children, youth, families and seniors. Local government, educational institutions and sports federation’s representatives from Latvia and the Czech Republic shared good practice examples.

The final section of the symposium was devoted to the health aspects of good governance in grassroots sport. These representative informed and invited for a discussion on the major risks and most common mistakes in dealing with grassroots sport, which leads to various injuries.

Recommendations for good governance in grassroots sport, are prepared as part of ERASMUS + funded programme, project ” Promotion and encourAGement of recreatiONal team sport”, in order to encourage a more active lifestyle by promoting grassroots sport which is accessible to anyone, to combat the growing problem of obesity and public health deterioration due to insufficient physical activity. 15 leading sports organizations from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvian, Lithuanian and Poland are involved in project implementation and recommendation development. We invite you to get familiar with the recommendations on the project website – www.agonproject.eu