Friday 7th September Malta will be joining the rest of Europe in the opening of the European Week of Sport. At 9:00 a.m. everyone is being encouraged to join SportMalta at the National Pool Complex Tal-Qroqq where not only will we have the opening but also the popular programme Summer On The Move will come to an end.  Whilst the main activity here will be concentrated on water games there will also be a squash tournament, yoga, aqua fitness and skipping rope classes for adults as well as a show by the synchronised swimming academy and an under 11 water polo tournament.

At 6:00 in the evening the activity will continue at the Cottonera Sports Complex with an organised sport village that will go on until 10:00 at night.  This will be the perfect opportunity for children to experience a new sport like cycling, dance and gymnastics.  We will also have the traditional game of bocci encouraging all visitors to try it out. An innovative Dance and Draw workshop intended to inspire young artists to express themselves will also be introduced. Adults and children alike will have the opportunity to participate in indoor rowing as well as fitness and yoga classes.

There will also be happy train trips round the three cities as well as quizzes.  All in all definitely an event not to be missed.  Entrance and participation is free for all and a lot of freebies will be distributed to those that take part.

The Head Office will be closed on Friday 7th September due to the European Week of Sport Event. We invite you to join us and #BeActive

Morning: From 9.00am to noon at Tal-Qroqq National Pool
Evening: from 18.00 to 22.00 at Cottonera Sports Complex

SportMalta, MaltCo and Fitness 24/7 have teamed up together to organize the 1st Edition of the UBet Sport Challenge as part of the European Week of Sport 2018. This year the event will be held at Cottonera Sport Complex on Friday 7th September 2018 from 18.00hours onwards.

All participants must fill in the application form underneath. This will enable officials to determine results and classifications for the different categories. The form must be submitted to SportMalta before or on the day of the event. Failure to do so will result in nonparticipation.

Fitness 24/7 is providing 10 spinning machines. The challenge is to cover the distance in your category in the shortest time possible.

Download the Application

The Malta Weightlifting Association are organising a three week training camp and seminars  with international renowned coach Tamas Feher.

Hungarian-British Tamás Fehér is a highly qualified internationally recognised weightlifting coach with over 35 years experience. He has demonstrated a significant ability to develop and encourage weightlifters to the international level in many countries all over the world.

He is mostly known for his work between 2008 and 2014 where he was working as the Head Coach of British Weightlifting (Great Britain Male and Female Nation Squad) leading the British male and female team to several World and European Championships including the successful London 2012 Olympic Games. He taught numerous international Weightlifting courses, Strength & Conditioning coaching courses and lately also CrossFit seminars. Some of which were requested by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Olympic Solidarity, International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), European Weightlifting Federation (EWF), Poliquin Institute and Eleiko, Weightlifting USA, Sheffield United Football Club, England Rugby Union, UK Sport TASS, etc..

Our Maltese athletes have many upcoming international competitions and will highly benefit from this training camp. Young athletes like Shelby Mangion Vassallo (15 years old) is preparing to participate in the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires in October, Tenishia Thorton (13 years old) will be competing in the Challenge 201 tournament in Switzerland in October.  Thornton and Tristan Zammit (15 years old) are both national event in Valencia next September. Young athletes are training  more than 8 times a week during their summer holidays

Senior athlete Yazmin Zammit Stevens is also preparing for 2 major meets coming up in the next few months. She will first compete at the World University Championships alongside Rodmar Pulis in Poland in late September, and at the IWF World Championships that will take place in Turkmenistan in early November.

All these athletes along with other promising athletes will be training under the watchful eye of Tamas feher and their national team coach Jesmond Caruana for a jam packed 3 weeks leading up to a national competition on the 16th of September.

Open call for the running of food and drink stalls  on Friday 7th September 2018 for European week of Sport 2018 taking place at Cottonera Sport Complex, a sport festival running from 18..00 hrs to 22.00 hrs for an audience of 800-1000 people throughout the night (these numbers can vary).

All those interested are to have his or her own equipment/ stall. Healthy Food and drinks only can be sold during the event.

This morning at the Kirkop Sports Complex, SportMalta launched the fourth edition of the European Week of Sport 2018, an initiative to promote Sport and Physical Activity, funded by the European Commission and happening inSportMalta Luanched  32 countries across Europe.

SportMalta CEO Mark Cutajar did a run through of the activities that will happen in the month of September, commencing with a brace of activities on the 7^thof September starting at 09:00 to 12:00 hours in  the National Pool Complex and as from 18:00 hours till late at the Cottonera Sport Complex.  During these events there will be various activities for all ages.  On the 28^thof the month all schools in Malta will be physically active during the European School Sports day, whilst on the 29^thas from 20:00 hours onwards, the Kirkop Sport Complex will host the Beactive night, a mix of sport, activities, physical fitness and music once again for all ages. The Flag Ship event in Cottonera and the Be Active night in Kirkop are open to public and lots of give a ways will be given to participants.

Moreover many clubs, associations and federations together with a number of NGOS will be organising a record number of activities to move the nation to be more physically active.  All activities are being supported by SportMalta.

Chairman Luciano Busuttil highlighted the fact that The European Week of Sport did an impact on the Maltese Islands and this is being witnessed by the positive result in the latest Eurobarometer.

Parliamentary Secretary Clifton Grima said that he is very happy with the effort done by everyone involved to organise the activities.  He also encouraged all public to take part and endorse physical activity as part of their lifestyle.  He also expressed the wish that the European Week of Sport will not only be a week activity but it will be spread all year round.

SportMalta also announced 2018 ambassadors, Maria James from Special Olympics Malta, Malta’s Sport woman of the year, weightlifter Yasmin Zammit Stephens,  Sliema Wanderers and National Team player Ryan Fenech (a SportMalta employee) and Waterpolo National Team Coach Karl Izzo who has been ambassador since 2015.  Izzo on behalf of the ambassadors addressed those who are physically inactive, encouraging them to start slowly slowly taking part in physical active exercises who will leave a positive physical and mental effect on the individuals.

The launch was anchored by Malta Sports Journalists Associations President Sandro Micallef.  The Association is one important stakeholder of the event.

On the 26th and 27th of July 2018 a committed group of experts from the area of sport officiating came together for the 2nd full partner meeting of the ONSIDE project. The meeting was held in the inspirational surroundings of the Papendal Sport Training Centre in the Netherlands. Funded through the Erasmus+ Sport programme of the European Union, the ONSIDE project will, for
the first time, explore the generic skills (meaning non sport specific skills) and competences of sport officials and develop new education courses relevant across all nations and sports in Europe. Following a successful kick-off meeting in Vienna in April 2018, the partnership continued with the overall work programme which involves the implementation of an innovative 7 Step approach to workforce and skills development in sport officiating.

Research of the sector is vital to underpin any skills development and training initiative and this was the first step considered by the partners. The next six months will see an intense period of both desk research in to all relevant aspects of sport officiating, and the launch of an online survey for national sport federations to gather views on skills issues and tendencies for the first time at the European level. The next step of developing Occupational Descriptors for sport officiating was also introduced with the partners working in groups to list various sport official positions across sports and classify them based on tasks and responsibilities. A first draft of an overall framework for sport officials was proposed which will be further developed and tested.
Patrick Vajda, representing AFCAM, took the opportunity to present the emerging International Sport Officials Federation to the group.

After the meeting, Ben Gittus, EOSE Director of Standards said “EOSE is delighted with the commitment, expertise and professionalism of the partnership, the close cooperation between partners will help to achieve quality results throughout the project” Janie Frampton, CEO of Sports Officials UK said: “the partners have quickly formed a fantastic team and it is a pleasure to work together on this project, it is great to see the project taking shape”. Jean Gracia, representing European Athletics also commended the cooperation between the partners at the meeting and is sure the project will result in a good outcome for the whole sport sector.

The meeting was excellently hosted by the NOC*NSF from the Netherlands. The next meeting will be
hosted by European Athletics in Lausanne, Switzerland, in November 2018.

FULL LIST OF PARTNERS:

European Observatoire of Sport and Employment (EOSE), Sports Officials UK (SOUK), Association Française du Corps Arbitral Multisports (AFCAM), European Handball Federation (EHF), European Table Tennis Union (ETTU), European Athletics, SportMalta, Dutch Olympic Committee * Dutch Sports Federation (NOC*NSF), Romanian Football Federation (FRF), British
Wheelchair Basketball, and National Sports Academy “Vassil Levski”.

The European Week of Sport is an initiative by the European Commission to promote sport and physical activity across Europe during September. SportMalta is the national coordinating body of this activity which is now into its fourth year.

In order to reach all members of our society in an effort for everyone to be part of this activity, SportMalta coordinated a series of meetings led by CEO Mark Cutajar together with his organising team.

Starting in May invites for the first meeting were given to registered sport organisations, voluntary organisations, the youth sector and local councils.

The subsequent meeting targeted sports journalists during which the Malta Sports Journalists Association joined forces with SportMalta to help spread the message in an effort to increase the number of participants.

During the first week of June a meeting was held in Gozo and the Gozo Sports Board in an effort to involve Gozitan Sport organisations whilst the last meeting was with Primary and Secondary school physical education teachers inviting them to help motivate students.

Apart from the flagship event at the National Pool Complex and Cottonera Sports Complex another two big events will be held which are the European School Sports Day and the Night Event at the Kirkop Sports Complex.

Further details about the various activities and how everyone can participate can be obtained by following the local media.

Wieħed mill-proġetti li SportMalta investit biex tieħu sehem fih huwa il-Move Transfer Project. Dan huwa proġett iffinanzjat mill-Unjoni Ewropea (Erasmus+ Sport Programme,  SmallCollaborativePartnerships) u l-għan tiegħu huwa li nippromovu l-attivita fiżika filwaqt li ntejbu is-servizz li qed jingħata mill-għaqdiet sportivi madwar l-Ewropa. Il-Ħsieb ewlieni huwa li l-għaqdiet jinvestu f’servizz multi-dixxiplinarju ħalli l-individwu jiġi moqdi ħolistikament ; kemm mill-att tekniku, psikoloġiku, soċjali u edukattiv.

Il-proġett  beda f’Jannar 2017 u ntemm f’Ġunju 2018. L-għaqdiet jew entitajiet li jippromovu l-attivita fiżika, kienu mistiedna japplikaw. L-għaqdiet riedu:

1. Jaraw li coaches/instructorsikunu kkwalifikati u professjonali.
2. Jagħmlu attivitajiet regolari li ser jibbenifika minnhom kulħadd (kemm dawk li huma tajbin fl-isport kif ukoll dawk li m’humiex).
3. Jħaddnu s-sistema tal-inklużjoni soċjali biex b’hekk ħadd ma jiġi eskluż.
4. jagħtu l-għajnuna meħtieġa lill-individwu minn kull aspett.
5. Jippromovu healthylifestyle mhux biss bħala eżerċizzju fiżiku (fl-isport li jipprattikaw) imma wkoll bħala nutrizzjoni, kura u żvillup personali fost oħrajn.

Kull klabb li applika u pparteċipa fil-proġett,ried jinvesti kemm fl-edukazzjoni tal-istaff tekniku u amministrattiv kif ukoll jaħdem ma’ nies professjonali oħra, minn oqsma differenti. Dan l-impenn għen biex il-parteċipanti fl-għaqdiet, jieħdu servizz professjonali. B’dan il-mod l-iżvillup tal-klabb/entita` jkun qed jinbena fuq pedament sod b’viżjoni konkreta u ta’ kwalita’.

L-assessjar biex jingħata l-award sar minn organizzazzjonijiet barranin bħal ISCA (International Sport andCulureAssociation) u Sport Union of Slovenia flimkien ma’ SportMalta, li kienet strumentali biex dan il-proġett isir. Is-sebgħa klabbs li ġew ppremjatibil-Healthy Club Quality Mark huma:

• Assoċjazzjoni Sportiva Hibernians
• Birżebbuġa Sailing Club
• Birkirkara St Joseph Sports Club
• Dar Kenn għal Saħħtek
• Għajnsielem Redcoats
• Marsaxlokk FCYN
• Sirens ASC

Dawn il-klabbs wrew inizzjattiva u daħlu għall-impenn li jsegwu l-prinċipji tal-proġett. Ta’ min jgħid li meta ġew ir-rappreżentanti minn barra biex jaraw fiżikament xi jsir f’dawn il-klabbs,  kollha kellhom kliem ta’ tifħir u osservaw li dawn il-klabbs  qed iħallu impatt pożittiv fil-komunitatjiet tal-madwar b’mod differenti.

Proġett bħal dan għen biex filwaqt li  nirrikonoxxu x’inhu  jsir fl-għaqdiet jew entitajiet differenti, naħdmu flimkien biex naraw kif nistgħu ntejbu s-servizz għal ġid nazzjonali. Iktar minn hekk,  dan il-proġettserva biex naqsmu l-esperjenzi tagħna ma pajjiżi oħra Ewropej,  nitgħallmu minn xulxin u fuq kollox naħdmu biex ngħollu l-livell tas-servizzi li qed noffru bħala għaqdiet sportivi.

Summer on the move opened its doors on Monday.  Sport facilities across Malta and Gozo welcomed over 7000 participants of all ages, from as young as 6 months to the age of 84, some of whom joined SportMalta’s programme for the first time.  The fun-packed sports programme, which this year was fully-subscribed in record time, offers over 50 different sports and activities, giving the right opportunity for all to be active in summer.

Apart from the National Swimming Pool at Tal-Qroqq Sports Complex, the other swimming facilities at Siġġiewi and Kirkop were buzzing with activity where as expected, water based activities are among the most popular choices.   Morning sessions as well as those with extra hours, where children spend between 3 to 6 hours swimming and land-based sports attracted the largest number of applicants.  In this programme, apart from working with the children on their swimming awards, they play various fun games and different sport skills.  On the other hand, evening sessions are sport specific where focus is on skills and where possible, on applying these skills to game situations.  Also, SportMalta Academies switch to their summer schedule where athletes specialising in gymnastics, triathlon, synchronised swimming, volleyball and basketball have more time to practice and specialise in their respective sport.