The NORDPLUS project, which was coordinated by the Lithuanian Sports Academy, took place at the Janis Dalins stadium for three days.
Nordplus is a program established by the Nordic Council of Ministers, whose projects are aimed at strengthening cooperation between the Nordic and Baltic countries. Also improving the education systems of the participating countries and introducing innovations into them. The Nordplus program supports projects that promote knowledge acquisition, exchange and networking.
Representatives from Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, Denmark, Iceland participate in the project. At this meeting, the issue of how to better develop the training process, how to improve the cooperation of athletes with coaches and how to actualize the existing problems, as one of them is that the coaches’ materials are not organized and searching for them, takes a long period of time, thus , by creating this application, it would help to find the necessary materials quickly and easily. The goal of the current project is to digitize the training process and develop it over a three-year period. Also to create a digitization in such a way that even coaches with more experience in their field can understand it.
As one of the representatives, Janis Dalins stadium manager Megija Stalberga, shares her experience and observations during the seminar: “On the first day, we introduced the project participants to the entire sports infrastructure in Valmiera, which they found very interesting and sustainable. We are glad that this kind of seminar took place in Valmiera, and not in another Latvian city. We also have a number of specialists who can be involved in this process. This was like a short course because the project has several stages and each stage has its own tasks and objectives. It was at this stage that ideas and development parts for digitizing the training process on a daily basis were created – to create an application that can analyze the training process, store all test results, video and photo materials, as well as discussions about how it could be easy to use and a good assistant tool for the coach and the athlete.”
Various universities also participate in this project, representing Latvia, the Latvian Academy of Sport Education. The University of Reykjavík, the University of Southeast Norway, the University of Southern Denmark. As well as Kaunas Sports School “Gaja” and the Lithuanian Sports Academy, which coordinate this project. Various organizations are also participating, such as the Valmiera Olympic Center, the International Boxing Association Coaches Committee, the National Conditioning Training Association and VSI Smart Health DIH, a healthcare innovation ecosystem based in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Another goal is to mark Valmiera and it’s county itself as a destination, where such seminars can be held more often, promoting the development and recognition of tourism and the region.