September 5-10 in Romagna: a week of sports and socializing
Despite the flood that 4 months ago shook Romagna, the 7 municipalities and the over 40 sports facilities will host the most green event in the history of the World Sports Games:
over 30 sport disciplines, parasports, and beach parties with support provided by Dipartimento Sport of the Government, Regione Emilia Romagna, and the Municipalities involved
The event is promoted by CSIT, International Workers and Amateurs in Sports Confederation, representing 230 million people around the world, and organized by the sport organisation AiCS
Italy, August 2023 – Four days of sports, five days of cultural and social events, more than 5,000 athletes, coaches, trainers and families who will compete on more than 40 sports facilities located throughout seven cities in Romagna: Cervia, Cesena, Cesenatico, Forlì, Misano Adriatico, Ravenna and Riccione. This is World Sports Games, from September 5 to 10, the amateur world Games promoted by CSIT – International Workers and Amateurs in Sports Confederation – and organized here in Italy by AiCS (Associazione italiana cultura sport), one of the country’s leading sports promotion organizations. Despite the flood that devastated Romagna only four months ago, the WSG, which take place every two years, will be returning to Italy after eight years, and will be hosted on the Romagna Riviera with the support of the Dipartimento Sport of the Italian Governement, Regione Emilia Romagna, Comune di Cervia – the city that will host Casa Italia and the Games’ headquarters – and in collaboration with ACSI, another sports promotion organization. Also sponsoring the event are the other six Municipalities involved, which are collaborating to organise a successful event by giving access to sports facilities, and Fondazione CariForlì.
WSG23: festival of people and inclusion
WSG23 is sports and so much more. The World Amateur Games that will peacefully invade Romagna are in fact not just a multisport event, but a social and multicultural one. Organized in Italy by the Emilioc organizing committee, led by AiCS, the Games involve a total takeover of the 5,000 participants coming from all over the world. From their arrival at the airport, Tuesday Sept. 5th, to their departure, Sunday Sept. 10th, athletes and their families will be accompanied the organisers that will offer them, in addition to training and sports competitions, also tourist trips, dinners of the Romagna tradition, and moments dedicated to discovering cultures around the World promoted by the international sports organizations that are members of CSIT – from Mexico to Tunisia, from northern Europe to Asia -, training courses, conferences and more. Meetings include the refresher course for journalists on the inclusive language of sports to which will participate the diversity editor of the Turin Press, Pasquale Quaranta, and the conference conducted by Aned Associazione nazionale emodializzati Dialisi e trapianto – Settore Sport – on the relationship between transplantation and sports activities.
There will be fun and partying too. Like the European Mamanet Festival (which will have its highlight on Sept. 8 in Cervia), a sport designed to promote social relationships among women, especially mothers. The values at the core of the Games are sociability and international peace dialogue. For this reason, the Opening Ceremony of the seventh edition of the World Sports Games, to be held on Wednesday, September 6th, will consist of a colorful and multi-ethnic parade of all the competing sports delagations from Cervia’s seafront to Piazza Garibaldi, where will take place the lighting of the Tripod, the declaration of the opening of the Games and the show of Italian culture offered by the city and the organizing committee to both the participants and the community. Representing the event will be a committee whose members include national and regional institutions, including Sports and Youth Minister Andrea Abodi, Undersecretary of State for the Environment Claudio Barbaro, CONI President Giovanni Malagò, Paralympic Committee President Luca Pancalli, Emilia Romagna Region President Stefano Bonaccini and many others. Four days later, the Closing Ceremony will instead be held on the beach of Cervia’s Fantini Club, with the speech declaring the end of the Games, the handover to Greece that will be hosting the Games in 2025, and the musical party offered by the organizing committee with Radio Bruno DJ sets, and dancing on the beach.
Sport is at the core of the whole event. It will feature more than 30 sport disciplines: 23 international championships – from the most well-known sports such as soccer, volleyball, and gymnastics, to more niche ones, such as bocce, chess, and Mamanet, the inclusive sport for mothers – and 13 sports performances by partner organizations – from dodgeball to golf, from American football to pole sports, and more. More than 40 sports facilities will be involved, from the Stadio del Nuoto in Riccione to the Unieuro Arena in Forlì, from beach volleyball courts in Cesenatico and Cervia to school gyms on the Riviera to the beaches of Marina di Ravenna and the sports hall in Misano Adriatico. A week of sports that will be able, due to the very nature of the World Sports Games, to include older people (specific activities are planned for over 55s) and people with disabilities: the Romagna edition will in fact be the first to include parasports. Athletes with disabilities, transplanted and dialysed athletes will be involved in the competitions, thus making no distinctions between participants (as is the case in the more emblazoned Olympics). WSG23 will be a unique kermesse that will break down physical and social barriers.
Green Games and environmental sustainability
The 2023 World Amateur Games will be Inclusive, but also green. The event will focus on environmental sustainability: in fact, this will be the first truly green edition of the Games that aims both at producing the least possible environmental impact and setting a permanent example of respect for nature. For this reason, participants will be given plastic free gadgets, and sporting venues and common areas will be equipped with recycling bins. Moreover, waste collection competitions (the AiCS Rifiuthlon®) and sustainable mobility will be promoted. For those who will be accommodated within one kilometer of the sports field or gymnasium where the competitions will be held, there will be no transportation, but walking or biking; for all others, transportation will be provided by shuttles and buses that will travel at full capacity – while limiting the athletes’ waiting time as much as possible.
Respect for the environment will be linked to the promotion of the territory in two ways: Cervia on those days will offer the now traditional “Sapore di Sale” festival, which will be an opportunity for foreign guests to plunge themselves into the typical food and traditions of the area. It is no coincidence that the official mascot of the Games is Elio, an emblematic name given to the pink flamingo that symbolises the Cervia Salt Pans, and which for the WSGs will wear the t-shirt of the CSIT athletes.
Sponsors and links to the Region Emilia Romagna
Because the aim of WSG23 is to minimize the use of plastic, the event is supported by the Emilia Romagna Region and bears the regional Plastic-FreER logo. Moreover, thanks to the support of Battistini Vivai, AiCS and the organizing committee will be able to gift each city involved with a tree as a symbol of the World Sports Games in terms of a positive influence on the territory and peace. Also supporting the event are Allianz for insurance coverage to AiCS athletes, Tecnocopi for digital supplies and connection on the sports fields, and Eyesportwear which dresses AiCS Italian athletes. Media partners for the event are Radio Bruno, Teleromagna, Corriere Romagna.
CLICK HERE FOR THE UPDATED PROGRAM OF THE 7TH EDITION OF CSIT WORLD SPORTS GAMES