Ronalds Rezais, Latvian Sports Federations Council International Project Manager, explains the role of his organization in the SPEY project, what has been achieved so far and the next objectives.
1) What made you join the project? What would you highlight?
Previous working experience with UFEC and great cooperation. The project highlights the topic which is a grey area in our country, Latvia, meaning that nobody publicly talks about youth potential problems that can lead to extremism, however there are many examples from coaches that sport has helped children to show the correct way of life and preventing them to become hooligans or something worse, therefore this topic is very crucial in our country.
2) Sport, youth and radicalization: 3 powerful words, how do you contribute to the project and from what point of view / experience?
Knowledge, network and dedication. We are the umbrella organization for all national federations and we have the great opportunity to deliver SPEY project message to all of our federations.
3) How has the pandemic affected the development of this task? Are you achieving your goals?
All of the tasks have been delayed due to global shutdown of all organization during the pandemic, but even so little by little we are regaining normalcy. In addition, it should be noted that, thanks to the involvement of all partners, we have been able to continue online at a certain pace.
4) From your experience in other European projects, what accomplishment do you feel most proud of?
We have been the national coordinators of the European Week of Sport in Latvia for 6 years and in the last 2 years, despite of pandemic, we have managed to get more than 260 thousand Latvian inhabitants (15% of population) to BeActive during the week in more than 1800 events.
About the SPEY project
The SPEY project (Sport for the Prevention of Extremism in Youth) started in February 2020 led by the Union of Sports Federations of Catalonia. The project, co-financed by the European Commission, has a duration of 30 months, and has the support of 7 countries and 9 ‘partners’, including the Confederation of Sports of Sweden, the Union of Federations of Latvia, the International Council of Sport and Physical Education of Germany, the City Council of Gondomar of Portugal, the Ministry of Culture and Sport of Greece, the French ‘think tank’ Sport and Citizenship, and the University of Córdoba.
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