International Betting Integrity Association’s Post

For 12 years I was a professional basketball player (not a really good one but I was a much better union organizer) but what I learned in those years about the psyche of professional athletes is essential to my ability to lead international sports integrity initiatives today. One of the main ingredient of a successful program, even after 14 years off the court, is trust. As the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) education ambassador, yesterday I have been pleased to visit Forge FC as part of a joint initiative alongside AFP Canada | PFA Canada to educate athletes from the Canadian Premier League on the threat posed by match-fixing to protect the integrity of sporting competition.   I have been in their shoes, sitting in locker rooms, on benches, on team meeting with coaches, on the recovery table, – and even if it's a different sport I can talk to them in the eye and speak about the reality and complexity of a professional career.   The unfortunate truth is that to corrupt a sports fixture – and financially benefit from defrauding betting markets – an athlete or official who can affect in-game events needs to be involved.   Sometimes when this occurs it is due to the influence of criminals, sometimes the friends of athletes from less financially secure backgrounds apply unfair pressure, other times the athletes themselves make mistakes out of curiosity or boredom.   Professional athletes live with a particular set of pressures that are invisible to most of us. Relative fame and wealth, contrasted with short careers, the weekly threat of injury, intense fan and media pressure, short duration of contract and the need to keep winning against other exceptional athletes to maintain their lifestyles.   In this context, you need to cut-through the noise and impress upon them how critical the training is to protect their careers. To do that you need to get someone they can trust to talk to them face-to-face.   Before 2010 player education was virtually non-existent in Europe. I would say North America is in a similar position today. Working alongside International Betting Integrity Association, EU Athletes and European Commission, I have been incredibly proud to help design and deliver initiatives that have trained over 35,000 professional athletes in Europe, and I am now excited to bring that experience to Canada. What I instinctively knew when we set out to design the European initiatives – and what remains integral to IBIA’s global education initiative today – is that trust and direct access to athletes needed to be at the core of our model.   And I understood that precisely because I didn’t have that resource when I was a professional athlete.

DAY 3 As part of this celebration, Day 3 has been dedicated to the sports activities. NEP 2020 envisages sports as a part of the School Curriculum and sports-integrated learning as well as adopting fitness as a lifelong attitude. National Education Policy 2020 emphasizes on the importance of sports in education and bringing sports in main stream education. Paru 4-8 of NEP 2020 states "Sports integration is another cross-curricular pedagogical approach that utilizes physical activities including indigenous sports, in pedagogical practices to help in developing skills such as collaboration, self-initiative, self-direction, self- discipline, teamwork, responsibility, citizenship, etc. Sports integrated learning will be undertaken in classroom transactions to help students adopt fitness as a lifelong attitude and to achieve the related life skills. OBJECTIVES: * Raise awareness about the importance of Sports and fitness. * Promotion of indigenous games parallel to the contemporary sports. * To inculcate a sense of team spirit and discipline in young minds. * To foster a feeling of National integration. * To make sports an integral part of the daily routine of the students. * To promote sports at national and international level. (Especially, the indigenous games of India) * To develop a positive attitude of pride, sportsmanship, and ethical behaviour in the students. * To make the students physically, mentally, psychologically, socially, and emotionally fit. * To encourage team spirit among students by bringing individuals from a variety of social and economic backgrounds together in a shared platform. * To inculcate social and moral values among the students through games/sports

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Many UK Independent Schools are marketing themselves strongly on the back of their extensive sporting provision. Indeed, looking at some promotional material you might think (mistakenly I am sure) that some famous schools haven’t produced anyone of note in recent years other than sports stars and perhaps the odd actor or musician. That is something for marketing teams to think about – it might not be quite so ‘sexy’ but I am very happy to have two adult children who loved sport at school but are carving out professional and more stable careers in the commercial world.   The success of several sports in the UK such as cricket, tennis, hockey and rugby union seems increasingly to rely heavily on a high-performance culture driven by the independent sector. It was notable that the percentage of independent school educated members of Team GB in the 2024 Olympic squad was 33%. It is also interesting to see the growing number of privately educated footballers (Hey Jude) in the English national squad – independent schools are market-driven and very adaptable. I have known many parents who have viewed their child’s place at an independent school as the route to a lucrative sporting career. Sadly, for most that dream has remained unfulfilled as the vast majority of young aspiring sporting stars do not get to a level where they can earn a living from the sport. I have taught students who have ‘made it’ including three current league footballers, a European cup winning rugby player and a county opening batsman, but they were all dominant players from an early age and attached to professional clubs. The same was true in my own teenage cricket experience where Atherton and Hussain were always destined for glory. Dan Luger, the England rugby player and another former student, was an exception in that his talent was not recognised until his late teens. Ultimately though the main aim of most independent schools in offering such a strong sporting platform is not to produce the sporting stars of the future - that is a wonderful by-product. They see participation in sport and other co-curricular activity as an opportunity to exercise and develop character. I was reminded of this recently bumping into two former students who were both heavily invested in sport at school and clearly shaped and strengthened by those experiences - motivated competitive team players full of ambition.  One had been Head Girl – the staff always joked that she ran the school and indeed visiting teachers commented how they thought she was a member of staff when she greeted for school fixtures. She is now back there teaching – by all accounts she is brilliant – and running the Sixth Form. Another ex-pupil, now an Assistant Head, captained the U12 rugby team with a rare intensity – we got to the stage where he always took the pre-match warm up for the team and we won every game. Between the two of them, they encapsulate everything sport at school should mean. A world of opportunity awaits.

At the core of the Academy’s philosophy is the commitment to identifying the strengths and weaknesses of each student and designing tailor-made training programs aligned with the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC). *Beyond the Field: How Lions Sports Academy is reshaping talent* https://lnkd.in/dmGpRmUg

Exciting news for aspiring sports coaches and managers in Qatar! Qatar University has unveiled its newest initiative, the College of Sports Sciences, offering prospective students the chance to pursue a BSc in Sports Coaching and a BSc in Sports Management. With plans to welcome students starting September 2025, this launch aligns perfectly with Qatar's strategic emphasis on sports development. The establishment of this college underscores Qatar's commitment to fostering excellence in sports education. Graduates from these programs are likely to play key roles in advancing sports within Qatar, having a meaningful impact on both the local community and the global sporting landscape. Moreover, this venture opens up promising pathways for graduates of Aspire Academy, providing them with opportunities to further their athletic and academic pursuits within Qatar. By leveraging the local expertise in both education and performance sports sectors, these graduates can contribute significantly to Qatar's thriving sports ecosystem. https://lnkd.in/dup88ZWg

At the core of the Academy’s philosophy is the commitment to identifying the strengths and weaknesses of each student and designing tailor-made training programs aligned with the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC). *Beyond the Field: How Lions Sports Academy is reshaping talent* https://lnkd.in/dSUeSfTj

A summer dream: training with stars to become a professional | Where emotion plays a role You are 15 years old and you want to be a basketball player. Many of your teammates are hesitant, and it is starting to become difficult for them to combine training and school. Even parents or friends advise them: “focus on your studies and leave the ball behind.” Statistics say that three out of four will succumb, a degree of abandonment that does not occur in the same measure among boys. And it has serious consequences for them: basketball, as with team sports, provides health and instills meritorious values also off the court: teamwork, sacrifice, determination… What can be done to stop this trend? The answer offered by the project Law6which is being held this week and until Sunday 28th in Barcelona, has deserved the award of the first edition of the contest Basket Girlz, an Endesa initiative which aims to reverse the reality that they themselves have described. 24 promising basketball players will train alongside professionals such as Claudia Soriano (Ensino Lugo), Regina Aguilar (Cadí La Seu), Txell Alarcón (Hozono Global Jairis) and Laura Méndez (UFAB 49) and will have the opportunity to be examined by top-level coaches who, through individual reports and tactical, physical and fundamental exercises, will show them the path to follow in order to reach the goal of becoming a professional. The dream of all of them: to make basketball their way of life. An idea that came to them, says one of the founders, Sergio Vera, an experienced women’s basketball coach, while having a coffee. And from the moment it popped into their heads it held them hostage and forced them to get to work. They knew Catalan women’s basketball like the back of their hand, the professional level, the youth teams, the amateur; many summers they had received calls from players asking for help with their individual post-season training… The need was obvious, everything seemed overwhelmingly logical. It is those elastic summer hours that basketball players usually dedicate to improving physical or technical aspects of their game that they do not have time to pay attention to during the competition: shooting mechanics, leg power, lateral movement speed. There are thousands of details that need to be polished. An arduous job, sometimes thankless, says Vera, because it has to be done alone, away from the sight of others. Law6 also wanted to remedy this. Everything is better as a team, in a community. And the positive reception of the idea did not come as a surprise: “All those who have been allowed to do so by international competitions have wanted to join in,” says Sergio Vera, who, for such a colossal task, wanted to surround himself with professionals such as Marta Santiago, coach of 3×3 basketball in the U21 category and coach of one of the best historical youth teams in women’s basketball, such as Siglo XXI in Barcelona. “This is a first step, hopefully we can expa...

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As a Sports Management student passionate about youth football, I was captivated by a recent article in The Athletic explaining why Barcelona's La Masia remains a true home for young players, not just an academy. This insight into their youth development approach, exemplified by recent success stories like Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi, offers fascinating learnings for anyone interested in sports development: 1. Holistic Development Philosophy: - Seamless integration of education and training; - Structured living environment promoting focus and discipline; - Balanced emphasis on academic and athletic excellence 2. Strategic Proximity to Excellence : - The academy's physical connection to the first team creates an environment where young players can literally see their future. As Yamal noted, being just "two minutes from the first team dressing room" builds a tangible path to success. 3. Thoughtful Accommodation Evolution: - Shared rooms for younger players to develop social skills; - Gradual transition to individual spaces as players mature; - Creation of a nurturing environment within a high-performance setting 4. Personalized Support Framework: - Understanding and adapting to individual circumstances (like Yamal's transportation challenges) ensures players can focus entirely on their development. 🔑 Key Learning: Through my studies, I've come to understand that successful youth development extends far beyond the training ground—it's about crafting a comprehensive ecosystem where young talents can flourish in all aspects of their lives. As an aspiring sports management professional, I'm fascinated by how La Masia's model demonstrates that the most effective "luxury" for developing players isn't extravagance, but rather purposeful simplicity and support. Source: Based on the article "Living at La Masia: Why Barcelona's youth academy is still a home to global stars" by Pol Ballús and Laia Cervelló Herrero, The Athletic, October 1, 2024. [Link in comments] Photo credit: Francesc Adelantado/Marca #SportsManagement #YouthDevelopment #FootballBusiness #SportsBusiness #StudentInsights #UEMStudyAbroadPT