Raising our voices for youth: Youth Ideas Lab & EU Sport Forum 2022
The 2022 EU Sport Forum was held on 16-17 June 2022, in Lille, France, including the European Week of Sport Key Players seminar and #HealthyLifestyle4all Youth Ideas Lab.
#HealthyLifestyle4all Youth Ideas Lab kicked off on Wednesday, with five ENGSO Youth representatives attending the programme: Chair Ugne Chmeliauskaitė, Vice-chair Filip Filipić, Communication officer Polona Fonda, Project manager Christian Hajj and Young Delegate Tabea Werner.
The three-day programme, consisting of various educational activities, engaged 20 young people from six different organisations: ENGSO Youth, European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation, Erasmus Student Network, European University Sport Association, Marie Curie Alumni and the European Solidarity Network. The group was led by three experienced facilitators: Laura-Maria Tiidla, Andrej Pišl and Paolo Bouquet.
The main aim of the #HealthyLifestyle4all Youth Ideas Lab was to give youth a voice within the European sport movement and shape five initiatives / elevator pitches, which were later presented to the public of the EU Sport Forum, on the topic of youth, sport and health.
The programme kicked off with a presentation roundtable and the visit to the Decathlon BTwin Village to learn more about their initiatives in the field of youth, sustainability and green transportation.
It continued on Thursday, 16 June 2022, with a session led by the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Mariya Gabriel who discussed with us about the issues young people in Europe are facing when it comes to sport participation and inclusion, mental health, technology, and girls and young women in sport.
After the ideas developing session, the youth participants joined the EU Sport Forum for the opening, soliday with Ukraine and the high level panel discussion on the values based European Sport.
Last day of the Youth Ideas Lab was all about finalising the elevator pitches and the presenting the #HealthyLifestyle4all youth ideas to the participants of the EU Sport Forum. While finishing the pitches, the French Sport Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra paid a visit and spoke to us about the importance of sport for the well-being of young people.
The first part of our #HealthyLifestyle4all Youth Ideas Lab journey ended on Friday afternoon, on the big stage of the EU Sport Forum on which all five groups raised their voice for youth in Europe and presented the five pitches on the topics of: Solidarity corps and volunteering, access to sport for all and inclusion of young trans people, digital health and young people, mental health through sport, education and the importance of safe, inclusive sport.
We are grateful to the Commissioner Mariya Gabriel and the European Commission for the opportunity to be included and raise our voice for the European youth and youth sport in Europe.
#HealthyLifestyle4all Youth Ideas Lab programme will continue in August with a gathering in Brussels, Belgium, and wil be concluded in September, at the opening of the European Week of Sport in Prague, Czech Republic.
Recap of the EU Sport Forum
The annual European Week of Sport Key Players seminar took place one day before the forum, on Wednesday, 15 June 2022. During the seminar, the European Commission’s Sport Unit presented the key highlights of 2021, and revealed the agenda and the activities for the 2022 #BeActive campaign and the European Week of Sport.
The Commissioner Mariya Gabriel opened the 2022 edition of the EU Sport Forum on Thursday, 16 June 2022. Under the theme of “European Sport: fair, inclusive and fit for a sustainable future”, the event covered the main priorities of the European sport movement: inclusion, equality and solidarity as key principles of the European Sport Model, green transition and sustainable sports infrastructure, good governance, protection and promotion of well-being with youth in focus.
The agenda of the forum included the tribute to Ukraine “Solidarity with Ukraine – contribution from sport”, high-level panel discussions on the values of the European sport sustainability, European sport model, etc., signatures of new HealthyLifeStyle4All pledges and presentation of European Commission’s initiatives on sport and Erasmus+ and the upcoming Czech Presidency.
The EU Sport Forum was streamed live to European Commission’s channel and you can re-watch it here: