The future of young athletes in Latvia: sustainability challenges and solutions to be discussed at RSU Research Week 2025

As part of RSU Research Week 2025, the discussion "The Young Athlete in Latvia: How Sustainable is Our System?" will take place on March 28, 2025, from 13:30 to 15:00. The event is organized by the IMRSportsLV team within the National Research Program "Sports" project "Innovations, Methodologies, and Recommendations for the Development and Management of the Sports Sector in Latvia."(IMRSportsLV)

Latvia's sports system faces significant challenges—funding for sports school coaches has remained unchanged since 2014, the education and workload regulations for coaches require improvement, and the physical and mental health of young athletes continues to deteriorate. Can the current system ensure sustainable sports development? What steps are necessary to provide stable funding for coaches and opportunities for them to enhance their education? How to ensure effective long-term physical and mental health of athletes - children and young people?

Key Topics for Discussion:

• The sustainability of sports school funding and necessary reforms
• Improving coach education and professional development opportunities
• The effectiveness of young athletes' health monitoring systems
• Collaboration between sports schools and researchers, and data integration in training processes

Panelists:

• Edgars Pukinsks – Advisor to the Prime Minister, responsible for development and change management in cross-sectoral matters, primarily related to education, sports, health, and business environment development. Former Secretary General and Head of Administration at the Latvian Football Federation.
• Juris Zīvarts – Senior Consultant at the Office of the State Secretary, Ministry of Education and Science.
• Baiba Norīte-Lapsiņa, Director, Children's Clinical University Hospital Sports Medicine Centre.
• Diāna Zaļupe – Chair of the Latvian Sports Education Institutions Directors’ Council.
• Raimonds Lazdiņš –president of  Latvian National Olympic Committee.
• Normunds Vārpa, Ph.D. – Researcher in the National Research Program “Sports” IMRSportsLV project, lead researcher at RTU Liepāja.

Concluding remarks will be given by Aleksandrs Samoilovs, Director of Sports Department at the Ministry of Education and Science.

The discussion will be moderated by Rihards Ginters, Strategy Director at Magic & Wit Consulting, an active basketball player since the age of six, former member of Latvia’s youth national teams, currently representing the RSU basketball team.

It will take place in person and will also be available online:

• To attend in person  RSU Pharmaceutical Education and Research Centre (1st floor, Konsula Street 21, Riga) registration is required for the RSU Science Week 2025 at https://rw2025.rsu.lv/registration, specifying the 'Knowledge for Use in Practice' conference and the 'Sport Science, Sport Medicine and Rehabilitation' session, and indicating that you will attend in person on March 28.
• Discussion can be followed online (without registration) on the Facebook event page and the RSU.lv event page.

Who Should Attend?

Coaches, sports school directors, policymakers, and anyone interested in the future of Latvian sports are invited to join the discussion. Let's work together to find solutions and build a sustainable sports system for both coaches and young athletes! Event will be held in Latvian language.

The project “Innovations, Methodology, and Recommendations for the Development and Management of the Sports Sector in Latvia” No. VPP-IZM-Sports-2023/1-0001) is implemented by scientists from Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU), including RSU Latvian Academy of Sport Education together with researchers from the University of Latvia, Riga Technical University, including RTU Liepāja, have started implementing the most significant sports study in recent years, and receives funding from the state budget as a result of the open competition of the National Research Programme (NRP) Sports announced by the Latvian Council of Science.

The National Research Programme is a public research programme commissioned to carry out scientific research in a priority area of national interest, with the aim of generating new knowledge, skills and innovations. It supports both high-quality basic research and policy makers by providing research-based recommendations for policy development.

The Ministry of Education and Science is responsible for the implementation of the Sport 2023-2026 programme. The Latvian Science Council organises and implements the programme's call for projects, providing international external expertise in project evaluation..