26th TAFISA World Congress Tokyo 2019

TAFISA is The Association For International Sport for All headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany with more than 350 member organisations in 170 countries and regions worldwide.

Once every two years, participants from Sport for All organisations and related organisations, etc. hold the TAFISA World Congress as an international convention for promoting the Sport for All philosophy and physical activity through a programme including keynote addresses and discussions.

Sport for All through Tradition and Innovation

The theme draws inspiration from the Japanese context and delves into the apparent paradox between tradition and innovation. It tackles the contemporary relevance of tradition, in particular how Traditional Sports and Games can help bring play back into the daily lives of both children and adults, while exploring the vast field of innovations to identify ways in which new ideas, new concepts and new technologies can encourage people to be physically active. Sport for All will require both Tradition and Innovation to grow stronger in the future.

Subthemes:

Happy aging

Societies are aging in some parts of the world. Isolation and loneliness are increasingly affecting the elderly. We can address this and make a change. Sport for All benefits the elderly by improving their health but also social integration by combatting isolation and loneliness.

Made to play

For the Human Right to play. We are made to play – kids, adults, everybody. But we’ve forgotten that and play is too often seen as a waste of time. Through play, we build physical literacy, learn to be creative and independent, develop physical and emotional strength, identify with our cultural heritage and explore our built and natural environment.

Design your policy

We know of the manifold benefits of Sport for All; but how do we activate them? How can we use Sport for All to answer current challenges? A well-designed policy has the power to implement a positive, sustainable change and leave a lasting legacy. Without a clearly defined policy, you don’t know where to go. Make history, design your policy.

Building communities

Sport for All builds bridges, fostering mutual understanding and bringing people together within society. Globally, it contributes to peace-building. At the local level, in municipalities, it reinforces ties between citizens. Through Sport for All, different people can connect, regardless of their countries, cultures, religions, generations, levels of ability or other differences. As the saying goes, a family that plays together stays together!

Impact through innovation

Innovations change the world. They provide solutions to problems we thought as unsolvable, sometimes to problems we had not even identified. On how innovations can disrupt the current habits and set new trends to shape a more active lifestyle. Forward-thinking, new sports, new organisational models, new technologies and equipment facilitate access to physical activity, in particular to target groups that are still physically inactive.