On the 28^th September, schools from all Educational Sectors will be joining students from over 30 European Countries in the European School Sports Day (ESSD).  The ESSD is a Pan-European initiative to promote physical activity, health and wellbeing in schools.  This event is supported by the EU Commission and forms part of the European Week of Sport’s (EWoS) #BeActive Campaign.  The ESSD is an annual sports day, aimed at encouraging students to adopt a healthy lifestyle, whereby students are engaged in 120 minutes of physical activity.

From a pilot project in 3 countries in 2015 (led by the Hungarian School Sport Federation), it expanded to a total of 20 countries in 2016.  Malta’s first participation in the ESSD was in 2016, with over 60 schools from all educational sectors joining the first group of 20 EU countries in this school sports celebration.

Due to the rapid growth in participation, ESSD18 has been given the recognition of an EWoS flagship event.  With a thematic focus on Grassroots Sports, ESSD18 is aiming to register an increased number of participating schools from countries over 30 EU countries.  The event happening on the first Friday of the scholastic year makes it an ideal team building opportunity for school staff and students, hence the initiation of a solid relationship.  Other than promote health and well-being for lifelong learning, activities are aimed to develop students’ social competencies by being inclusive, fun, foster social inclusion, boost self-esteem, encourage gender equality and develop school ethos.

The set objectives for #MaltaESSD2018 are to increase the number of participating schools from all educational sectors, increase number of physically active participants and foster the ESSD philosophy.  SportMalta is committed to support participating schools in the successful organisation of their school’s ESSD.

Bhala parti mill-Gimgha Ewropeja ta` l-Isport, SportMalta li hija l-koodrinatrici ta’ din l-inizzjattiva ta’ l-Unjoni Ewropeja f’pajjizna, qalqet l-ufficini u il-Kumplessi kollha taghha bejn in-12:30 sa 13:30 sabiex il-haddiema jiehdu sehem f’mixja madwar il-Kottonera.

Il-Kap Ezekuttiv ta’ SportMalta Mark Cutajar qal li fi tielet gurnata ta` din il-gimgha kienet tiffokka fuq il-post ta’ xoghol u ghalhekk il-haddiema u l-management riedu jwasslu il-messagg li fil-hin tal-brejk kullhadd jista jaghmel ftit ezercizzju fiziku.  Barra minn hekk qed jheggu lil awtoritiajiet sew governativi kif ukoll privati biex jiehdu inizzjattivi biex l-impjegati jkunu iktar attivi.

L-attivita li jmiss hija bi tema eduzkazzjoni bil-European School Sport Day nhar il-gimgha u l-Gheluq bil-Be Active Night fil-kumpless ta’Kirkop, nhar is-Sibt mi 20:00 il-quddiem.

Ghal aktar dettalji www.sportmalta.org.mt jew il-facebook page BeActive Malta.

The Malta Basketball Association joined the call from SportMalta to participate in this year’s European Week of Sport and the #BeActive campaign, with a unique and original event at the Basketball court on Sunday.

Boogie Bounce was the event that saw a group of 50 people eager to turn trampolines into a sweaty fitness activity.

Photos from the event can be seen here.

SportMalta is currently busy moving the whole nation with the #BeActive campaign and the European Week of Sport with hundreds of events across the whole country, but it’s also busy making sure that we practice what we preach.

Tomorrow we are going for a walk around the Cottonera in an effort to turn our team into #BeActive ambassadors.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL OF OUR OFFICES WILL BE CLOSED BETWEEN 12:20PM AND 1:15pm

This morning during a press conference at the Waterpolo pitch Birzebbuga, The Hon Clifton Grima Parliamentary Secretary for Youth, Sport and Voluntary Organisations together with SportMalta’s CEO Mark Cutajar officially opened the European Week of Sport.

As explained by Mark Cutajar, this is a week filled up with activities which is being based on three important themes.

The first of which is the Community and this was very clear in the activity organised in the morning at Birzebbuga by the three local waterpolo, sailing and regatta clubs during which the public was encouraged to participate in the various activities.

The Workplace theme where next Tuesday at noon the Cottonera Sport Complex SportMalta employees together with other employees in the vicinity are going to take part in a session of 30 minutes of physical activity in order to emphasize that during the work break one can still be active.

The Education Theme will be reflected next Friday morning during the European School Sports Day. This is a huge sport activity being held at all schools during which there will be also the participation of the Parliamentary Secretary Hon. Clifton Grima as well as other well known personalities.

Dr Clifton Grima emphasized on the importance that everyone is active in some form of physical activity. Leading by example is an important factor as he also took the opportunity to mention and praise young Jake Vella who although suffers from a rare condition still practices sport on a daily basis clear proof of how much sport is important in our lifestyle. He appealed to everyone to participate in this week’s activities just as he will be doing as he accepted the challenge of the SportMalta employees together with two of the European Week of Sport ambassadors Ryan Fenech and Karl Izzo to compete with them in a sport activity of their choice.

Mark Cutajar took the opportunity to thank all those involved in the organisation of this year’s European Week of Sport and also invited everyone to attend the first ever BEACTIVE night on Saturday 29th September at the Kirkop Sport Complex.  During all of the European Week of Sport activies a lot of BEACTIVE merchandise will be distributed.

Details about all the activities can be found on SportMalta’s website and facebook page as well as #BEACTIVE

The European Week of Sport is organised by SportMalta with the collaboration of the Malta Sports Journalists Association.

SportMalta will be organizing the BeActive Night on 29th September at Kirkop Sports Complex between 18:00-24:00.

There will be a variety of sports events for the general public.

Caterers are welcome to set up stands of healthy food and drinks only during the event. Those interested are to send an email by Saturday 22nd September till 12:00 (noon) to Ruben.baldacchino@ilearn.edu.mt.

The second edition of the Youth Development Scheme by SportMalta in collaboration with Bank of Valletta was launched during a press conference held at BOV’s Head Office in Santa Venera.

The Youth Development Scheme targets individual athletes in all sporting disciplines under the age of 18 and assists them in furthering their sporting career by participating at an international level beyond our shores.

The event was addressed by Anthony Scicluna, Chief Officer at Bank of Valletta, Dr Luciano Busuttil and Mark Cutajar, Chairman and CEO at SportMalta respectively and Parliamentary Secretary for Sports Dr Clifton Grima.

‘Bank of Valletta is synonymous with sports in Malta, supporting the major sports organization on the island’, said Mr Scicluna. ‘However we have always felt that the youth sector needs more support, and the Youth Development Scheme, provides us with an opportunity to support Malta’s budding young athletes who will be the champions of the near future.’

‘The Scheme is an opportunity for Malta’s young Athletes to gain experience in international competitions and an investment in our country’s sportive future,’ said Dr Busuttil. ‘This investment in our minor sector will help them take the leap to the next level and gain the necessary experience in international competitions.’

‘The financial burden associated with competing in international events is very hard to be sustained by the athletes themselves,’ continued Dr Busuttil. ‘The collaboration between SportMalta and Bank of Valletta will ensure that athletes with good potential are given the gain the experience of training and competing abroad, a necessary stepping stone in their sporting career.’

‘The scheme, a 50-50 partnership between SportMalta and BOV will assist twenty athletes, chosen according to their personal capacity and performance in their Sport,’ said Mr Cutajar. ‘Flight expenses, event participation fees and accommodation are all being covered by this scheme.’

‘National Sports Organisations of the particular disciplines shall be asked by SportMalta for recommendations in relation to the Athlete’s performance and potential, in order to ensure that the National Sports Organisations’ views are taken into consideration’ concluded Mr Cutajar.

‘I take this opportunity to thank SportMalta and Bank of Valletta for investing in the future of our athletes with a scheme that will assist us in preparing as many athletes as possible for the Games for the Small States of Europe 2023 that will be hosted in Malta’ said the Hon Dr Clifton Grima. ‘This second edition of the scheme will continue to build up the numbers and level of our promising athletes in a bid to obtain a large number of medals at these games.

Further information about the scheme can be accessed via in the Assistance Scheme Page.

Another ambitious project by SportMalta has kicked off with works for the first ever Indoor Pool in Malta, which will be located at the Cottonera.

SportMalta CEO Mark Cutajar stated that this ambitious project is a dream for every sports person who has at heart water sports. He continued “The new indoor pool will continue to develop swimming and waterpolo in the south of Malta”.

The new pool will help to ease the load on the National Pool Complex which is fully booked all the time with various swimming and waterpolo activities from various clubs and organsiations.

SportMalta staff started the dismantling of the current Bocci Drome, starting off Phase 1 of the project. This will be followed by various survey on site to ensure the project is up to standard with health and safety standards.

Tenders for the excavation works will be issued in October with the final tender planned to be issued in December.

The project is planned to cost round 7 million euro and works are planned to be ready by December 2020.

The complex will be one of the official venues that will host the Small Nations Games which our country will be hosting in 2023. The venue will be used for all aquatic sports.

The Cottonera Sports Complex was transformed into a sport village to inspire people to take on a new sport discipline and start to get active.

The event was organised by SportMalta as part of this year’s European Week of Sport.

Numerous ilies attended the eventalso took part in most of the activities that their children participated in throughout the year.

The activity was also part of the season closing celebration of this summer edition of Summer On The Move which saw 7500 students taking part in over 55 sport disciplines.

Parliamentary Secretary Dr Clifton Grima also attended the event with his family participating in some of the activities.

The event saw a number of exhibitions from Gymnastics, Weightlifting, Motorsports, Traditional Bocci, Fitness, Scrabble, Yoga and Capoeira. A number of stands saw sport services, namely physiotherapists promoting their services to the sport community.

The public also had the opportunity to tour the Three Cities and received a number of cool #BeActive and SportMalta merchandise.

housands of children accompanied by parents and coaches this morning took part in several activities at The National Pool Sports Complex in tal-Qroqq as the Summer On The Move programme came to an end. At the same time the European Week of Sport celebrated together with 32 countries was officially opened by Dr Clifton Grima Parliamentary Secretary responsible from Sports together with SportMalta’s Chairman Lucjano Busuttil and Chief Executive Officer Mark Cutajar. Also present was the Opposition’s Sports Speaker Hon. Ryan Callus.

All four speakers were emphatic about the importance that everyone should perform a physical activity which does not necessarily have to be a competitive one. They asked all those present to spread the word to their families and friends that being active makes us live a healthier and longer life whilst also fighting off obesity hence the slogan #BEACTIVE.

This year’s Summer On The Move saw a record number of 7000 participants confirming the programme’s increasing popularity.

The opening included a FlyBoard Show as well as an exhibition by the Academy of Synchronised Swimming.