To promote active leisure on the beach, this year the BeActive Beach Games are held in two European countries – Latvia hosted the games on July 23 and 24 in Ventspils, and on September 3 and 4, the games will be held on the beach of Portimao in Portugal. Just like in Ventspils, the European Family Cup is planned to be held, where participants will be able to try out one of the sports disciplines, participate in a 5-kilometer race on the beach and engage in other sports activities.

In 2019, the Latvian Sports Federations Council (LSFP) together with seven sports organizations from other countries joined the European Union’s “Erasmus+” project in order to search for new ways to attract people, regardless of age, health, physical fitness or skills, to an active lifestyle, including active leisure on the beach. “Both in 2019 and this year, the BeActive Beach Games proved that beach recreation is not only a sports leisure, but also an integrating, inclusive activity for everyone, helping to combat a sedentary lifestyle. For two days, 20 Latvian sports federations creatively presented dozens of sports activities at the beach of Ventspils, involving many of the nearly 1,000 participants,” says LSFP President Einars Fogelis.

At the BeActive Beach Games in Portugal at the beginning of September, every participant will be able to try beach volleyball, pilates, yoga, surfing, beach tennis, water aerobics, handball, beach soccer, crossfit, capoeira, dance and other activities. The European Family Cup will also take place, where families from several countries have already confirmed their participation and will test their physical abilities, knowledge and team spirit during 12 tasks.

Laura-Maria Tiidla, project manager of the International Sport and Culture Association, who also attended the games in Ventspils, explains: “Physical activities provide many benefits – they improve health, mental well-being, and create shared memories of quality time spent together. This is especially important when recovering from a pandemic, the public health impacts of which are still not fully understood. BeActive Beach Games are one of the wonderful ways for the whole family to get outdoors and be physically active together.”

You can find out more about the games in Portimao by visiting the social media sites of LSFP and project partners, and by following hashtags #BeActiveAtBeach, #BeActive, #LSFP, as well as on the websites www.pludmalesspeles.lv, beactivebeachgames.lsfp.lv and www.beactivebeachgames.pt.

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 – both natural and artificially created, for example, in the urban environment. 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. This year, families and representatives of sports organizations from nearly ten other European countries come to Ventspils for beach sports games to expand the movement of beach sports in their countries.