Sailing Latvia kick off Olympic Solidarity funded project

Sailing Latvia have kicked off their Olympic Solidarity Funded “Developing National Sport Systems Project – Vision 2020” which will create a sustainable national sail training programme in the nation.

Work on the project commenced on Friday 29 November and it will ensure that a recognised pathway is established to grow entry level participation and increase lifetime retention in Kiteboarding, Windsurfing and Dinghy sailing.
 
There will be a particular focus on refining training safety management systems, increasing coaching competency and the refining the efficiency of the programme management. 
 
This will be achieved through aligning a recognisable lifetime participation pathway which clearly demonstrates the beneficial educational, lifestyle and competitive opportunities of learning and participating in the focus area disciplines.
 
The project kicked off in Riga with an opening ceremony followed by several meetings and fact finding exercises. Seven coaches representing the three sports and the national network of clubs are working to together under the guidance of World Sailing Nominated Expert, Tim Cross, and Sailing Latvia Project Manager, Inga Jakobsone, to confirm the blueprint for the project which will then be implemented throughout the next six months. The project hopes to culminate a World Sailing Recognised Training audit in the 2020 summer.
 
Two further visits are scheduled for early next year to further develop and finalise the project.
 
Information on Development of National Sports System
 
Development of National Sport System projects are funded directly by Olympic Solidarity.
 
Applications are made through Member National Authorities National Olympic Committee and the projects are supported by the presence of an international expert appointed or endorsed by World Sailing.
 
The detailed action plan for the project, submitted to Olympic Solidarity, must be coherent and after a detailed analysis of the situation (strengths, weaknesses, objectives, etc.). It must include the following aspects:

– Provide for the training of local coaches or people capable of continuing the work initiated by the expert once the project has ended.
– If necessary, include training for trainers, referees, judges and administrators.
– If necessary, improve training programmes for elite sport.
– Possibly put in place a “sport for all” project or a school sport development project.
– Possibly set up programmes to identify talented young athletes, raise awareness of the fight against doping and sports betting, etc.
 
Projects typically last for around six months and have been used successfully by many World Sailing MNA’s.
 
Any MNA interested in finding out more about the Development of a National Sport System should contact Catherine.duncan@sailing.org.