26 Athletes to benefit from Youth Development Scheme

SportMalta and Bank of Valletta support young Athletes

26 athletes will benefit from the second edition of the Youth Development Scheme organised by SportMalta in collaboration with Bank of Valletta.

The Youth Development Scheme provides financial assistance to young athletes who wish to participate in international competitions and training camps beyond our shores. Co-funded by SportMalta and BOV, the scheme targets athletes who have not yet attained 18 years of age.

SportMalta received well 50 applications for the scheme. A panel of experts evaluated each application and short-listed 26 athletes to benefit from the scheme.

The selected athletes were announced during a press conference held at the BOV Centre in Santa Venera and was addressed by Dr Clifton Grima, Parliamentary Secretary for Youth, Sport and Voluntary Organisations, Mark Cutajar, CEO at SportMalta and Charles Azzopardi, Executive PR and Marketing at Bank of Valletta.

‘Following the success of the first edition of the Scheme, and the positive improvement registered by its beneficiaries, it is indeed a pleasure to announce an even bigger scheme this year,’ said Charles Azzopardi. ‘The Bank and SportMalta decided to increase the budget for this scheme and help all short-listed athletes instead of further filtering of athletes to fit the pre-set budgets. We firmly believe in our young athletes and we are sure that experiencing competition on an international level will boost their abilities and also their confidence to compete on an international scale.’

SportMalta Chief Executive Officer, Mr Mark Cutajar, stated that the scheme’s popularity has increased since its introduction in collaboration with BOV. In fact, applications have almost tripled when compared with the amount of applications received for the first edition of the Scheme. The increased interest in the scheme shows that more youths are acknowledging the importance of competing and training in international events in order to improve performances. In the upcoming years, this scheme will hopefully help our young athletes peak for international events, in particular the GSSE which shall be held in Malta in 2023.

Dr Clifton Grima thanked SportMalta and Bank of Valletta for this collaboration, a direct investment in our future athletes. “This scheme is very welcome assistance in the presparation for the Games of the Small States of Europe that will be hosted by Malta in 2023. This is the second edition of the scheme and will continue to help government to raise the level of our sport offering in line with the National Sports Strategy.”

List of Athletes: 20032019 Youth Development Scheme Beneficiary Athletes Announced (ENG) FINAL[7746]