Youth represent the future of sport and
personify a whole new fan base which is of
great interest to the global sports
movement.
The challenge for all sports is to attract the interest
and participation of young people in a world where
sedentary hobbies and technology increasingly draw
them away from sport in general and away from niche
sports in particular.
The goal to attract young people is not just for the sake
of keeping the variety of sporting disciplines alive,
but to give young people the chance to discover what
it is to enjoy a healthy and active way of living, learn
to work with others (team work), and learn to play by
the rules, consequently reaping the benefits in all areas
of their lives.
With this in mind, the International Olympic
Committee (IOC) created the Youth Olympic Games.
The first Youth Olympic Games will be held in Singapore
in August 2010. The International Rowing Federation,
FISA, is proud to be part of this new event, with rowing
being one of the 26 sports that will be staged.
sport generally, especially outside games time. This is
why the IOC also began building bridges with youth,
communicating with them on a daily basis through the
new media channels that are now so familiar to young
people and part of their everyday lives.
With the means at its disposal, FISA is taking the
challenge of attracting new generations to rowing
seriously. The Youth Olympic Games will be a fantastic
way of encouraging budding athletes to keep on
building their skills. But FISA also recognizes the need
to communicate with youth who are not yet competing
or not yet involved in rowing. They are the future of
our sport.
As part of its many efforts to better communicate to
the next generation of rowing aficionados what an
exciting sport rowing is, World Rowing is aiming to
better place itself on the new media platforms of today’s
world (Facebook, Twitter, You Tube). The task at hand
is considerable, but even with limited resources we are
confident that rowing will continue to grow and develop
worldwide, attracting generation upon generation of
new rowers.
However, these games will likely be insufficient on their
own to make younger generations more attracted to
■ Denis Oswald
FISA President
Member of the IOC Executive Board
© FISA
Denis Oswald
