The second BeActive Beach Games will be held on July 23 and 24 in Ventspils

BeActive Beach Games are returning to Latvia and this year will be held in Ventspils from July 23 to 24. A unique model of sports games was created in order to find new ways to attract people, regardless of age, health, fitness or skills, to an active lifestyle, including active beach recreation. Everyone will be able to take part in the beach games – the two-day program of games and demonstrations will include more than 30 sports available for children and adults. 

“By creating this model of beach games together with other European and international sports organizations, our goal is to increase overall participation in sports. We want to show how, with a little ingenuity and without much additional investment, a popular beach recreation can be used for outdoor activities. Moreover, it can be suitable for the entire family, different social groups, and also available for people with functional and motor disabilities,” emphasizes the President of the Latvian Sports Federations Council Einars Fogelis. “Overweight and obesity are becoming the cause of death and contributing to many other diseases – this is one of the most common health problems,” he tells.

Beach Games in Ventspils will be held in cooperation with more than 20 Latvian sports federations. Participants will have the opportunity to try their hand at such traditional sports as beach volleyball and handball, beach football and beach tennis, as well as get to know beach rugby, surfing, coastal rowing, disc golf, bouldering (rock climbing), petanque (played with metal balls) and other outdoor activities. People with motor and functional disabilities also participate in the Beach Games – there will be competitions in beach sitting volleyball and wheelchair basketball, as well as boccia (wheelchair precision ball sport), para-shooting and para-athletics. To participate in certain sports games, you will need to submit an application in advance, which will be announced on the website www.pludmalesspeles.lv in early June. However, most sports games can be attended by arriving directly at the event.  

BeActive Beach Games were held for the first time in 2019 in two countries – in August more than 4,000 participants gathered on the city's beaches in Ķīpsala and Lucavsala in Riga, and in September – Portimao sports games took place on natural beaches in Portugal.

This year, BeActive Beach Games will be held together with the Street Culture and Sports Festival Ghetto Games 2022. Thus, in Ventspils, which is also a partner of Beach Games, weekend active recreation opportunities will be provided for people of all ages, skills and fitness both on the city pavement, on the beach and in the water. “We are really pleased to be able to organize our traditional extreme sports festival together with the inclusive BeActive Beach Games, which opens up the opportunity to provide a sports weekend for everyone. And we are also happy to cooperate with the Latvian Sports Federations Council, which has been providing a comprehensive healthy and active lifestyle movement in Latvia for several years,” says Raimonds Elbakjans, the founder of Ghetto Games.

All up-to-date information can be followed in social media accounts of the project partners by following the hashtag #BeActiveAtBeach. More about BeActive Beach Games: www.pludmalesspeles.lv. 

BeActive Beach Games are co-financed by the European Union Erasmus+ program Sports, the state budget and Ventspils City Municipality.

BeActive Beach Games are designed to find new ways to attract people, regardless of age, health, fitness or skills, to an active lifestyle on beaches – natural as well as artificial, for example, in urban environments. The sports games model has been created within the framework of the Erasmus+ project by the Latvian Sports Federations Council in cooperation with other European and international sports organizations. Representatives of family and sports organizations from almost ten other European countries will also come to Ventspils to expand the movement of beach sports in their countries.