[WATCH] Malta 'failed miserably' in teaching young people importance of sport - Delia

PN leader Adrian Delia, speaking during party's national sports conference, highlights need for sport to become part of people's everyday lives

PN leader has called for sport to become part of the everyday lives of Maltese people
PN leader has called for sport to become part of the everyday lives of Maltese people

The country has over the years "failed miserably" in instilling in young people an appreciation for the importance of sport in their everyday lives, Adrian Delia said.

The PN leader said that sport should be more integrated in people's lives, throughout their life.

Delia was speaking during a Nationalist Party national conference on sport on Friday evening.

The conference, which included the involvement of various sporting personalities and figures, explored the theme of the future of sport in Malta.

Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia
Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia

"Education and sport should be intrinsically linked, or else we will fail when it comes to developing sports [culture] in a direction where it can become recognised that sport is an intrinsic part of our well-being," Delia said.

The importance of people becoming more aware of the benefits of practicing sports also tied in to the country's obesity problem, he noted.

The former Birkirkara FC president also called for a change in mindset when it comes to local athletes competing at an international level.

"One of the things which I used to dislike [when I was involved in sport] was that when local atheletes participate on an international level, they start from a state of mind where they believe that they have some tremendous disadvantage... a sort of national inferiority complex," he remarked.

He added that changing athletes' mindset could be a very strong tool when it came to improving performance in the international sporting sphere.

Addressing the conference, PN MP and sports spokesperson Robert Cutajar said that his party would be launching a national campaign to promote a better sports culture. The campaign, which will take place through the PN's TV and social media, will be led by athletes who can be nominated by sport organisations.

Cutajar said that today's conference would be one in a series, with the ultimate goal of drawing up a document on the future of sport in the country.