Co-funded by the European Union, this event aims to bring together sailing enthusiasts and environmental advocates for a day of celebration and education. Join us on April 21st for an exciting collaboration between SportMalta and Vikings Sailing Club, promising a day filled with thrilling activities and a commitment to environmental awareness. This unique event, supported by the European Union, seeks to not only celebrate the joy of sailing but also emphasize the importance of preserving our oceans and promoting sustainable practices. Stay tuned for more details, as we unite for a memorable day that combines the thrill of sailing with a shared dedication to the well-being of our planet.

This event focuses on promoting physical activity and environmental responsibility. The highlight of the day will be a cleanup initiative around Manuel Island and the Marsamxett Harbor. We’re thrilled to involve children from various schools, with a warm welcome extended to parents, creating a family-friendly atmosphere.

After the cleanup, we’re taking our commitment to sustainability a step further. Eco-friendly stationery, including notepads, pencil boxes, pens, and pencils crafted from recycled materials, will be distributed. It’s our way of reinforcing the importance of responsible living.

Adding to the event’s educational value, Sandra, a marine biologist, will conduct sessions highlighting the significance of our marine ecosystem. Her expertise will enlighten participants about the impact of human actions on marine life, emphasizing the need to protect our oceans.

The event goes above and beyond to ensure inclusivity. Sailing activities, facilitated by the Hansa adapted boat, are open to individuals with special needs. This initiative promotes inclusivity, ensuring everyone can enjoy the thrill of sailing.

Furthermore, in the upcoming days, educational sessions focused on nature appreciation and environmental care are scheduled to occur at six #onthemove centres. With the participation of over 6,000 students, these interactive lessons aim to encourage a profound understanding of the importance of preserving our environment. Our objective is to empower students to become conscientious stewards of our planet, illustrating the pivotal role they play in caring for nature.

Stay tuned for more…

Have you ever wondered what the traditional mark laying before a sailing regatta, involves? Well in this article you will learn that it is not just a question of leaving a buoy on the water for sailors to go round during a race.  

In the world of sailing regattas, the art of mark laying emerges as a pivotal element, orchestrating the creation of a challenging yet equitable course. This meticulous process involves strategic positioning of markers, considering factors like wind direction and strength. Coordination with the Race Committee, precise placement of starting and finishing marks, and the deployment of windward and leeward markers contribute to the seamless execution of the regatta. Adapting to wind shifts, ensuring safety through well-anchored marks, and transparent communication with competitors enhance the overall racing experience. The mark laying procedure, with its vigilant monitoring during races and diligent post-race retrieval, serves as the unsung hero, guaranteeing the integrity and excitement of every sailing competition. 

You might realize that all this needs special skills and most of all, it is time consuming. The Malta Sailing Federation explored the market to mitigate this situation. In the realm of maritime technology, the advent of GPS buoys marks a significant stride in enhancing navigation precision and facilitating scientific exploration. These buoys are ingeniously designed with integrated Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, enabling real-time tracking of their exact geographical coordinates. Widely applied in marine navigation, oceanography, and environmental monitoring, GPS buoys play a pivotal role in capturing a dynamic snapshot of our oceans. Beyond mere location tracking, these buoys often incorporate additional sensors to gather valuable data on factors like water temperature, salinity, and weather conditions. This comprehensive information, transmitted to central monitoring stations or accessed remotely, not only bolsters maritime safety but also fuels scientific research and environmental stewardship. The GPS buoy, a beacon of technological innovation, stands as a crucial tool in unraveling the mysteries of our vast and intricate oceans.                 

SportMalta, through its NDSF funds, purchased a set of these buoys which according to the President of the Malta Sailing Federation, Michael Mifsud, were a game changer for the world of dinghy sailing in Malta. 

The GPS buoys were blessed today by Fr Ruben, the Chaplin of Birżebbuġa, at the Birżebbuġa Sailing Club, where an international regatta is taking place.  

Vice-Chairman of SportMalta, Matthew Pisani, said that SportMalta is always willing to assist sport organizations and said that he was impressed by the dedication of the young talent present at the venue. 

Honorable Clifton Grima, who officially presented the GPS Buoys to the Malta Sailing Federation, said that the he was glad that the equipment would not just facilitate the work of the numorous volunteers, but also they continue to assist this sport to be even more environmentally sustainable.             

SportMalta is also assisting the sailing clubs, members of the Malta Sailing Federation with a high standard motor dinghy each, which vessels are highly efficient during regattas with their special specifications to fit the purpose. 

Following the successful conference Celebrating Sport in Malta held last week, SportMalta wrote another important page in its history with Prime Minister Robert Abela accompanied by Minister for Sport Clifton Grima and SportMalta CEO Mark Cutajar inaugurated a €5.5 million Complex in Marsa.

This new development inaugurated is another complex in a chain of facilities that SportMalta has been constantly constructing for the benefit of the sporting community in Malta. 

After various upgrades of existing facilities in the surroundings, which included the 1^st and 2^nd phase of the Marsa Athletics’ Stadium as well as the restoration of the 1903 building, it is also yet another project out of a series of projects within the upgrade of the Marsa Sports Complex, in line with this Government’s vision, and plan, for the creation of the comprehensive Marsa Sports’ Village.

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The new complex was constructed to replace an existing derelict building which was constructed in the 1990s and never utilised. On Ground Floor, it houses a multi-purpose hall with sprung flooring that can be used for various activities. There are also changing rooms with showers and various rooms providing office space for Malta Netball Association, Malta Rugby Union, Malta Softball and Baseball Association and Malta Gymnastics Federation. It also provides meeting rooms to accommodate the needs of the clubs and federations as well as SportMalta’s own management of the Marsa Complex. On the first floor then, within the glass paned steel structure which complements distinctively the surrounding natural environment and the historic 1903 building, the complex has a 900 square metre floor area to accommodate Gymnastics and other sport.  The facility has a minimum clear height of 9 metres, serving well the regulatory requirements of the discipline, as well as a wooden sprung flooring covering the whole area. The complex also has various installations of gymnastics’ apparatus such as spring flooring, uneven bars, beam, parallel bars, etc. It also houses a spectator stand which can accommodate up to 300 seated persons, making this facility suitable to be used for competitions occasionally, thus providing our athletes with adequate space to showcase their performance of the discipline further to being a dedicated training venue, which without doubt, will be of the greatest benefit to the sport and our athletes.

Prime Minister Robert Abela referred to the determination of the children he met in this sports complex during the inauguration, and their desire to roam in the sport. Here, he reiterated that the Government would continue to invest in them because we want them to be able to aspire in Malta as much as any child from another country. “That is what we want for our children, that is the result of the work we are doing so that this is the guarantee we give them.”

He concluded that we also give this same guarantee to our communities, with projects like this one, which in its design uses the principle that from the investment in the new facilities, the community also benefits, which today from a building that had been abandoned since the year it was built, has a sports facility of the highest level together with a multipurpose hall that you can use.

 “This is our vision for the communities. Healthy, vibrant, well-served, inclusive, clean and beautiful communities. Therefore, we are investing in communities more than ever, whatever the sector. I believe, however, that the sports sector beyond the sports facilities is also a reflection of the values ​​and aspirations we embrace as a community, as a country. We must continue to build a Malta where sport is not only a career or a hobby, but also remains a source of pride, of national unity and of inspiration not only for today’s generations but also for those of tomorrow.”

Minister Clifton Grima looked at the work being done with an unprecedented investment in this sports hub, part of a national plan for this sector and said, “It is part of our vision to make this the sports hub complex, which includes facilities for various sports disciplines and of the best level. A vision through which we are aiming for our country to have sports facilities of international standards that serve as a foundation for the sports industry. In this way, we will not only continue to put our country’s name on the world sports map, but attract investment to our country, also through sports tourism.”

The CEO of SportMalta, Mark Cutajar, said that in the last ten years, SportMalta has grown, in terms of facilities and human resources, both in terms of training and knowledge. “SportMalta has fully looked at the present strategy, one of the foundations of which is the sports facilities, and is developing these plans into a reality of the best level in order to accommodate athletes of various disciplines, the sports associations and to the general public.”  During the opening over 50 athletes of the SportMalta OntheMove Academy were the first to perform in a display prepared with their coaches for this event.  Sport Promotion Unit within SportMalta also invited over 200 students from the National Sport School and Marsa Primary who took part in activities related to fitness and gymnastics. 

Would you like to attend a Conference where you might have thought that you would spend a long time sitting down but you end up dancing? Well, if you attended the Conference ‘Celebrating Sport in Malta 2024’, you would know that this is precisely what happened. The delegates attending the three different sessions of this Conference, felt so triggered with what they were exposed to, that they felt compelled to join in whatever this very positive Conference offered. 

On Friday morning, Honorable Clifton Grima, Minister for Education, Sport, Youth, Research and Innovation opened the Conference in the presence of physical education teachers, sport coaches and students. He was followed by Mark Cutajar, SportMalta’s Chief Executive Officer who explained briefly who this Conference was meant to target. He indicated the very innovative themes and revealed the line-up of speakers of this special event. He promised the audience that this Conference was going to be an innovative one and that stakeholders will surely find it interesting. Matthew Pisani, Deputy Chairperson at SportMalta addressed the delegates, saying that he was looking forward to participating in this two-day Conference packed with educational material.

A panel discussion about the National Education Strategy 2024 – 2030 was held, with Ritianne Borg Saliba, Director General at the Ministry of Education, Dr Luciano Busuttil, Chief Executive Officer at AIMS and Renzo Kerr-Cumbo, Senior Lecturer at MCAST. Borg Saliba explained the process of the drafting of this document while Busuttil expressed his views as a parent of a young athlete vis-à-vis schooling and is looking forward for this strategy to be implemented. Kerr-Cumbo showed his concerns about the way the education system looks at sport and physical activity. 

The second session of the day was offered to parents of young athletes. The eagerness of these parents to learn could be felt in the air. They engaged in the discussion which revolved around the support offered to athletes. The panel of this discussion, saw Professor Andrew Azzopardi as a parent of a successful young athlete, Gianluca Azzopardi Spiteri as an athlete and Daniel Tabone, President of the Malta Handball Association, as a sport administrator. Here again the discussion revolved around the young athlete and one’s academic and professional life. It was evident that the support given to athletes needs to be made more evident for athletes to benefit from. Professor Azzopardi praised the positive mental set up local athletes at the Games of Small States  were geared upon, which left historical dividends.  Tabone encouraged parents to support their kids and not to put unnecessary pressure.

Pierre Cassar, the moderator of this Conference, accompanied us through to the second day of this event, which day, welcomed sport organizations. The panel discussion was about the European Week of Sport, which is an initiative of the European Union for which SportMalta is the National Coordinating Body. This initiative is a great platform for sport organizations to recruit new athletes in collaboration with SportMalta. This panel welcomed Rose Marie Mercieca, the national coordinator on behalf of SportMalta, Mark Marlow, the President of the Malta Employees Sport Association, Christabel D’Amato from Special Olympics and Marko Glumac from Know How Soccer, with these three organizations sharing their experience as the most active within this initiative. Rose Marie Mercieca encouraged the delegates to get in touch with SportMalta for them to benefit from this initiative. As Christabel D’Amato shared during her intervention, the Week could be an occasion for parents to gain knowledge about existing opportunities. Mark Marlow appealed to employers to grant further permissions to their employees to engage in sport as in the end this would pay back. Marko Glumac insisted that such events are very important for the sport to grow. 

The Conference, which is marking the ten years of SportMalta welcomed several international speakers. Barbara Brennan, an Irish mental well-being advocate, shared her personal experience with teachers, coaches, students and parents. Her speech was very engaging and kept everyone listening attentively for the whole time.

Distinctive international sporting bodies were also invited to share their good practices, namely UEFA and World Rugby. Olivier Gudet from UEFA and Jason Lewis from World Rugby, shared their experience and knowledge about event organization with innovative ideas, including the sustainability of events, each one of them doing this from the two different perspective of the organizations they represent. Greg Woods from World Rugby also shared the good practice of T1 Rugby, a programme with the aim of growing the game. This gave an outline of what is being done at a higher level which could easily be adapted to the local level. 

James Thoem, a Gehl associate, presented inventive ways of how to transform urban spaces into places for physical activity and recreation. Teachers and coaches realized that such ideas could be easily adapted to schools and club venues while sport organizations agreed that a transformation within their premises could attract more people to their clubs. 

The Conference included online questionnaires for the audience to engage in and to interact between each other and with the speakers. It certainly saw a whole lot of innovative topics and ideas with which the listeners felt stimulated and engaged, up to the point that they felt like dancing with SportMalta’s own coach, Johanna Refalo. 

The Conference ended with the distribution of €1.6million to be utilized by 120 sport organizations for international participation and sport tourism. It certainly was a very positive Conference to be remembered, marking the ten years of SportMalta with a difference.

SportMalta the Government entity for sport and physical activity is celebrating ten years from its transformation from the then Kunsill Malti għall-Isport.  For this memorable year and to celebrate the achievements of the entity throughout these years several activities will be organized for its associated sport organizations.

Celebrating Sport in Malta Conference 2024 will open these activities on the 12^th and the 13^th of January at Radisson Blu Resort and Spa Golden Sands.  The two-day conference will target different stakeholders and will have high level local and international speakers.

The first session will be held on Friday morning, and it will focus on the role of the physical education teacher, coaches, and prospective teachers and their relationship with student athletes.  The second session on Friday afternoon will have parents of student athletes as their target audience.  The challenges, the stress, time management and many other related topics will be discussed.  The third and final session on a Saturday morning will be directly related to Sport Organizations.  Topics related with creating open spaces in their premises, the European Week of Sport and the sustainability of events will be discussed.

The high-level panel of speakers include local and international personalities.  These include Barbara Brennan an Irish mental well-being advocate, Greg Woods and Jason Lewis from World Rugby, Olivier Gudet from UEFA and Canadian Architect James Thoem from top architectural firm Gehl Associate based in Denmark.  During the sessions all chaired by experienced sport journalist and Director of Marketing, Communications and Alumni at the University of Malta  Pierre Cassar, there will also be a number of panel discussions with the participation of Director General at the Ministry of Education Ritienne Borg Saliba, Luciano Busuttil CEO AIMS, senior lecturer at MCAST Renzo Kerr Cumbo, the Dean of Faculty of Social Well-Being Andrew Azzopardi, GSSE 2023 gold medalist Janet Richards,  the Malta Handball President Daniel Tabone, Rose Marie Mercieca national coordinator of the European Week of Sport and producer of this conference, Malta Employees Sport Association Mark Marlow and Marko Glumac who is the technical Director of Know How Soccer.

The conference will be opened by the Minister for Education and Sport Clifton Grima who during the last session together with SportMalta Chairperson Omar Farrugia will distribute over €3 million as assistance to sport organizations.

Join us at the Celebrating Sport in Malta Conference organized by SportMalta! 🇲🇹 Exciting sessions for PE Teachers, Coaches, Students, Parents of Young Athletes, and Sports Organizations. 🗓️ Mark your calendars for January 12th-13th, 2024. Register now for insightful talks on Mental Health, Sports Events, and Placemaking. 🎙️ Don’t miss out!

Registration:

Pe Teachers/Coaches/Students 👉 https://rb.gy/i3tgwi

Parents of Young Athletes 👉 https://rb.gy/0760kv

Sports Organizations 👉https://rb.gy/aw5w4n

The SportMalta Christmas International Waterpolo Tournament 2023 showcased Malta’s resilience and determination despite facing tough opponents. On Day 1, Malta faced Italy, resulting in a challenging 6-23 defeat. However, considering the differing levels of the teams, the outcome was somewhat expected. It served as a valuable learning experience for the young Maltese players.

Day 2 saw Malta competing against France, resulting in a closer 11-15 loss. Despite the defeat, Malta demonstrated their ability to play commendable waterpolo. On Day 3, Malta faced the Netherlands, concluding their tournament with a 7-22 loss.

The overall tournament result reflects the challenges Malta encountered, with three consecutive losses. Nevertheless, the experience gained will undoubtedly contribute to the team’s growth.

Final results of the overall tournament:

– Italy won the tournament with three victorious games.

– France secured the second position.

– The Netherlands claimed the third spot, and Malta finished in fourth place.

As they regroup and learn from their performances, the Maltese waterpolo team looks ahead to the upcoming European Championships in Croatia, aiming for a stronger showing on the international stage.

2024 will be a remarkable year for SportMalta since it will be celebrating its ten years following the transition from the then Kunsill Malti għall-Isport.  In the last press conference of the year SportMalta gave details about the first activities in 2024 and recognised several schools which took part in the SportMalta Schools Sports Day.  A recognition night to celebrate individuals who supported society through sport and physical activity.

Rose Marie Mercieca, Coordinator of the European Week of Sport said that SportMalta would like to recognize the work done in the schools of Malta and Gozo as part of the European Week initiative of Sport.  She said that since its inception ten years ago, the participation within this initiative continued to grow year after year reaching a record participation in 2023.  She congratulated all the schools and stressed on the importance of dissemination in schools and beyond.

Mark Cutajar CEO SportMalta said that in as in the last ten years, SportMalta will keep serving the society at large by providing opportunities to associations, clubs, individuals to practice sport and physical activity.  Her announced that a Conference ‘Celebrating Sport in Malta’ will happen between the 12^th and the 13^th of January 2024.

The main themes of the conference will be mental wellbeing, parental involvement, sustainability in events and promotion of sport in school.  The three sessions will have a different audience namely teachers and coaches on Friday morning, parents on Friday afternoon and Sport Associations and clubs on Saturday Morning.  For this a high-level international line up will deliver keynote presentations.  Amongst the speakers there will be Barbara Brennan an Irish Mental Health Advocate, Canadian Architect James Thoem, Olivier Goudet from UEFA and from World Rugby Greg Woods and Jason Lewis.

SportMalta Chairman Omar spoke about the successes that SportMalta had in the last ten years and said that the entity is committed to keep on delivering.  Sport is not only measured by medals but is also measured with values inculcated in all participants.

Minister Clifton Grima the public consultation document on the Strategy for Education with the strategy for sport.  He congratulated all the school who took part in the SportMalta Schools Sports Day and highlighted the benefits of such initiatives.  He remarked on the achievement reached by SportMalta and on the success of the local athletes in the Games of Small States of Europe 2023.

Minister Grima together with SportMalta Chairman Omar Farrugia presented sport equipment to participating schools.

The Sport Malta Christmas International Tournament press conference held at the Sport Malta Cottonera Sports Complex on Friday, 15th December, at 11:30 am. Speakers included Hon Minister Dr. Clifton Grima, SportMalta Chairperson Omar Farrugia, SportMalta CEO Mark Cutajar, ASA President Karl Izzo, and MTA Representative. The event showcased the upcoming dates between 28th and 30th December 2023 for the National Senior Men’s teams of Malta, France, Italy, and the Netherlands. Secure your tickets at www.asaofmalta.eu – Block Ticket €60 on a first-come-first-served basis.

Maltese athletes excelled at the 2023 Games of the Small States of Europe, hosted by Malta, earning a Medal for Service to the Republic. In an outstanding achievement, Malta secured 38 gold, 30 silver, and 29 bronze medals, emerging as the overall winner among nine participating countries. This remarkable performance highlights the commitment of Maltese athletes and showcases the talent present in smaller nations. Eleanor Bezzina led Team Malta as the appointed Team Captain, overseeing their success across various sports, including athletics, basketball, judo, rugby, sailing, shooting, squash, swimming, table-tennis, and tennis.

All this marks another positive chapter in the sporting narrative of 2023, highlighting the collaborative contributions of athletes, sports personnel, the Olympic committee, associations, families, government entities, sponsors, sports journalists, organizing committee, ministry, and volunteers. Embracing and supporting sports is a shared commitment for all!