A day before the opening of the maiden Winter Youth Olympic Games 2012 (WYOG) in Innsbruck , a European conference will focus on the participation of young migrants in winter sports for the first time.
While in many other sports the participation of children with migration backgrounds is a matter of course, they aren’t visible in winter sports – neither as active sportsmen or sportswomen nor as trainers or officials.
The European seminar “Involving Young Migrants in Winter Sports” will be opened by the Mayor of Innsbruck, Christine Oppitz-Plörer, and Bart Ooijen from the Sport Unit of the European Commission on Thursday (12.1.2012). The Austrian winter sport will be represented by members of the Sledge Association, the EBEL (Ice Hockey League) and the Sportunion Innsbruck.
More than 40 NGOs, sports organisations, associations, youth trainers and -workers, groups of migrant self-organisation and scientists from 14 different countries will visit and participate in the seminar which will take place at the Haus der Begegnung (Rennweg 12, Innsbruck, Austria).
This conference is the first European-wide platform for an in-depth debate and discourse about the integration of young migrants in winter sports, the problem of their underrepresentation and the absence of minorities in traditional winter sports.
Supporting Migrants in Skiing
Organiser Bella Bello Bitugu from FairPlay. Different Colours. One Game at the Vienna Institute of international Dialogue and Cooperation (VIDC) says:
“In the debate about the integrative potential of sport we’ve mainly talked about football until now. The parents of the actual Austrian football player of the year are from the Philippines and from Nigeria. But what about winter sports, where can we find the Alabas and Jukics there?"
The sport associations are slowly realising, that they have to get active. Peter Schröcksnadel, the president of the Austrian Skiing Federation, said a short time ago, that "the key issue for the future of the Austrian national sport Skiing is the encouragement of kids with migration backgrounds."
The seminar will explore how sports clubs and associations can become more open to and integrate these groups in winter sports and how winter sports can be made more attractive to young migrants.
The conference is organised by FairPlay-VIDC withinin the framework of the ongoing EU project “SPIN - Social Inclusion Network”. NGOs, football associations, player unions and sport organisations from Germany, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, Hungary, Finland and Austria are involved in the SPIN-project.
Apart from the Sport Unit of the European Commission, the Austrian Ministry for Sport, the Austrian Football Association (ÖFB) and the City of Innsbruck are also supporting the SPIN multiplier seminar.