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?
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 Pukinskis – Advisor to the Prime Minister,
- Juris Zīvarts – Senior Consultant at the Office of the State Secretary, Ministry of Education and Science,
- Diāna Zaļupe – Chair of the Latvian Sports Education Institutions Directors’ Council,
- Baiba Norīte-Lapsiņa - Head of the Sports Medicine Centre at the Children's Clinical University Hospital,
- Raimonds Lazdiņš – President of the Latvian Olympic Committee,
- Normunds Vārpa, Ph.D. – Researcher in the National Research Program “Sports” IMRSportsLV project.
The discussion will be moderated by Rihards Ginters, Strategy Director at Magic & Wit Consulting.
Participation
- To participate in person (the lobby at 21 Konsula iela), register for Research Week 2025,
- select the Knowledge for Use in Practice conference and the Sport Science, Sport Medicine and Rehabilitation section.
- You can also watch the event online (without registering) on Facebook, and on the event's page.
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, 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.
Location
