The Urban Youth games in the city of Ghent take place on 20 and 21 April at the Sports and Recreation domain Blaarmeersen and Watersportbaan. The games are a two-day youth event where students with or without disabilities are able to express themselves in more than 10 sports.
The Urban Youth games began to unite young people throughout the year, with the very first event taking place in the Brussels municipality of Molenbeek in 2019. The programme hopes to teach values associated with sports and culture and encourages students to put aside their prejudices.
The Urban Youth Games, in Gent, Thursday 20 April 2023. Credit: Belga / Jonas D'Hollander
More than a thousand 5th and 6th graders from regular and special education will participate together in a variety of sports while learning the values of inclusion. There will be over 10 sports to choose from including hockey, rowing, rugby, tennis, Poull Ball, frisbee, cycling and skating.
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Urban Youth games have partnered with Team Belgium, and following Friday's event, the students will have the opportunity to participate in a skateboard session with the Olympic skater Lore Bruggeman. She represented Belgium in the 2020 Olympics, the same year that skateboarding was added as an Olympic sport.
The schedule for the event is as follows:
- 09:30: reception of schools and kick-off
- 10:00 - 11:30: Sports activity
- 11:45 – 12:30: lunch break
- 12:45 – 14:15: sports activity
- 14:30 – 15:15: closing ceremony and medal presentation (including Ghent city councillor for Sport, Sofie Bracke on Thursday 20 April)
