Today is starting a new contest to encourage children to play sports, to raise their interest in health issues and to involve them in one of the most important international sporting events of the year. These are the objectives of the ‘Your Sport For Life‘, a project promoted by the EuroRoma 2024 Foundation – organiser of the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships to be held in Rome from 7 to 12 June 2024 – in collaboration with UniCredit, Official Partner of the event.

The project is supported by the National Association of Italian Municipalities (Anci), the Federation of European Capitals and Cities of Sport (ACES Europe) and the Italian Athletics Federation (FIDAL). 

The project ‘Your Sport For Life‘ is inspired by the manifesto written by European Athletics to promote the values of athletics and sports in general, such as fair play, inclusiveness and healthy lifestyle. Inspired by the European campaign, the EuroRoma 2024 Foundation has opened a contest for Italian primary schools and young athletes from amateur athletics clubs and associations affiliated to FIDAL. Participants will work together with classmates, teachers and coaches to answer the question “What is sport for you?” in a creative way.

The subject of the ‘Your Sport For Life‘ contest will be photos, drawing and video contents, which will be produced in classrooms and collected by teachers, and within athletics clubs. The term for submitting materials is 14 May and all further information is available here.

A ‘best of’ of the contents will be shown on the big screens in the Olympic Stadium during the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships, giving the children a unique opportunity to share their ideas with the entire stadium audience. The ‘best of’ will also be featured on the Roma 2024 digital channels.  All participants in the contest will receive free entry to the stadium, which can also be extended to the sisters and brothers of the participating children, valid to attend a morning session of the European Championships, which will start on 7 June to coincide with the end of the Italian school season.

“The Roma 2024 European Championships will be a celebration for everyone, especially the youngest. With this initiative we are promoting the creativity, imagination and enthusiasm of young athletes and Italian students to storytelling sports and its values in a new way,” explains Stefano Mei, president of FIDAL and the EuroRoma 2024 Foundation.

“We are proud to be the official partner of this event, one of the most eagerly awaited in athletics, and to support the ‘Your Sport For Life’ project, which involves students, teachers and tutors from primary schools in a proactive awareness-raising and orientation action to promote sport as a healthy lifestyle in schools, families and society as a whole. We care about social sustainability in the round, starting with young people and education, and we also want to demonstrate our commitment to promoting health and well-being,” says Remo Taricani, Deputy Head of Italy at UniCredit

“Solidarity, loyalty, respect for rules and for others are the basic principles of sport. Sport at school promotes team spirit, being full citizens of our community and our country, being an active part of a healthy community. Sport is a great school for life. That is why Anci believes in the project to promote – through young people and schools – the Rome 2024 European Athletics Championships,” said Roberto Pella, Vice President of Anci

“Increasing the practice of sport to promote ‘Sport for All’, a shared value that starts with schools and children across Europe: this is the sense of ACES Europe, proud partner of the Fondazione Roma 2024 in this initiative,” said Gian Francesco Lupattelli, President of ACES Europe.

“The European Athletics Championships are an international event that brings prestige to Rome, and the Your Sport For Life project features our country’s children and their creativity: it is only natural that ACES Italia joins the event, sharing the values of sport,” added Vincenzo Lupattelli, President of ACES Italia