Last January 15th and 16th  The European Association of Traditional Sports and Games (AEJeST), in collaboration with the Institut Nacional d´Educació Física de Catalunya (INEFC) organized the 1st European Forum of Traditional Games and Sports.

The forum had a huge impact with 150 registered participants from 37 countries on four continents, in addition to the presence of important representatives of International cultural institutions such as the head of the Directorate General of Education, Youth and Sport of the Commission Europe, Mr. Yves Le Lostecque, or the Director of Social Policy and Programs of UNESCO, Ms. Ângela Melo, who was accompanied at the opening session of the Forum by the Director of INEFC, Mr. Eduard Inglés.

This first Forum, which was born with the will of continuity, aims to be a virtual meeting place, so that all members who are part of the AEJeST have the opportunity know each other, show the main actions that are being carried out with TSG, know better the different options to work together as a network.

At the same time, the Forum aims to be a platform to make visible the great dynamism of our associations and promote their activities. That is why it was raised in an open way and could be followed through the YouTube channel and the AEJeST website, by all those people and institutions interested in safeguarding and promoting TSG in different contexts: intangible cultural heritage, education, federative scenario, recreation, tourism …

As the AEJeST is made up of more than 75 organizations in this first edition, the organizations that were the founding and first members (Federations, Universities and associations) were selected as speakers:

Traditional Sports and Games Federations:

• Confédération des Jeux et Sports Traditionnels de Bretagne (FALSAB), Bretagne, France.
• International Federation of Celtic Wrestling (FILC / IFCW), Bretagne, France.
• Federación Cántabra de Bolos, Cantabria, España.
• Federazione Italiana Giochi e Sport Tradizionali (FIGeST), Umbria, Italia.
• Fédérachon Esport de Nohtra Téra (FENT), Val d’Aosta, Italia.
• Vlaamse Traditionele Sporten (VlaS), Flandre, Belgium.

 Universities and Training Centers:

• Institut Nacional d’Educació Física de Catalunya (INEFC), Catalunya, España.
• Proyecto Educativo Madera de Ser, Cantabria, España.
• Association Ti ar Gouren, Bretagne, France.

 Traditional Sports and Games Associations

• Asociación Galega do Xogo Popular e Tradicional, Galicia, España
• Associació Cultural Lo Llaüt de Ascó, Catalunya, España
• Associació La Tella, Comunitat Valenciana, España

We think that this is an experience that opens the door for the members of the AEJeST to continue networking not only in Europe but also with organizations from around the world. There was a very high membership participation, but also a significant worldwide impact.

The evaluations on the format of this first edition (duration of the presentations, structure of the sessions, availability of simultaneous translation in Spanish, English and French …) and the interest of the presentations confirm the need to have a forum of these characteristics. All of this encourages us to continue working on in future editions.

Finally, we inform you that you can follow all the presentation of the I European Forum of Traditional Games and Sports in the following Youtube links:

YouTube day / jour / day – 01/15/2021
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeH42DRzAX0
YouTube day / jour / day – 01/16/2021
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWSlWbDOBvA