14.06.2023 Report on NEBA’s “Networking through sport” meeting
14.06.2023

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NEBA’s first networking through sport meeting took place on Monday, June 12th, 2023 via ZOOM Video Conferencing, and was chaired by Ed Kalvins, Chairman of the NEBA Board and Normunds Kupcis, NEBA Director of Sport and Recreation. The invitation to attend the meeting had been addressed to those interested in organizing sports teams visit from their country to sports teams in Northern Europe or visa-versa, or to those providing services associated with sports tourism such as hotels, restaurants, transportation services and other service providers. Attendees represented Denmark, Scotland, Latvia, Georgia, and Western and Central Canada.

The purpose of the meeting was to identify those who have the interest or capability of organizing sports club visits to other countries and regions, and those who can support these initiatives.

An overview of the current status of NEBA’s networking through sport was provided, including:

• a description of NEBA’s overall “Visit Program”. Current participating countries include England, Scotland, Latvia, Finland, Canada and Georgia. We are expecting others to join the initiative as it expands.
• the “Visit Latvia program” is currently the most developed of the country programs. It is based on package indicative prices including specific services, transport, accommodation and entertainment.
• The “Sports Tourism” section of the “Visit Latvia program” currently addresses hockey and curling, and is expected to eventually include basketball, football (soccer), cricket and rugby.
• Indicative package prices are provided. See https://neba-network.eu/hockey---standard for an example.

During the meeting, several other activities were discussed including:

• mountain biking,
• biathlon, and similar sports,
• sports summer camps,
• water sports,
• rehabilitation services,
• teenage exchange: activities that would be supported by schools and other groups such as sports clubs,
• old-timers’ hockey,
• there was a suggestion that NEBA should be involved in infrastructure development (hotels, accommodation facilities) in areas where this is not available. However, this is not NEBA’s mandate.

The following should be noted:

• the target audience includes all ages and those enjoying sport at the armature and recreational level,
• NEBA is a member driven organization, therefore suggestions need to be implemented by members or their partners.

Requirements for one “sports project” include:

• a visit organizer (DMC) for the visiting club - responsible for coordinating club activities with the host, international travel arrangements, providing information to travellers, arranging payments,
• a visiting club,
• a host (DMC) who undertakes to organize local programs for incoming clubs, including relevant activities, transportation and accommodation, and networking with counterparts,
• an appropriate counterpart for the visiting club as arranged by the lost.

The objective is to arrange at least three such “sports projects” as soon as possible, but within the next six months.

Discussions will take place over the next few weeks with individuals who would be interested in participating as either hosts or visit organizers.

The next general meeting of the "Networking through sport” program will take place on Monday, July 10^th, at 18.30 (Riga, GMT+3)

NEBA considers networking through sport to be one way to develop relationships between people that could lead to successful business cooperation. The concept is new, but the groundwork has been set in our sports tourism section of our Visit Latvia program (https://neba-network.eu/sport) headed by Normunds Kupcis of the  European Recreational and Old-timers Hockey Association (http://www.euroha.eu/en/). Normunds has been arranging hockey team visits to Latvia for quite some time now. We hope to expand the concept under NEBA umbrella in the months to come.

Our immediate objective is to involve more countries in the sports tourism initiative.

For further information, please contact Ed Kalvins at ed.kalvins@neba-network.eu.

Please follow https://neba-network.eu/ for more information.