RSU invites coaches and parents to seminars on physical and mental health risks in youth sport
How can health risks in young athletes be identified early, how does biological maturation affect physical performance, and what can movement asymmetries reveal about injury risk? This autumn, Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) and the Liepāja Academy of Riga Technical University (RTU Liepāja) invite sports coaches, parents of young athletes and sports professionals to a series of three free seminars titled Science-Based Youth Sport: How to Identify and Reduce Physical and Mental Health Risks.
During the seminar series, researchers will present the latest data collected in Latvia and practical recommendations for a safer and healthier training process. The results of the #IMRSportsLV project under the national research programme Sports will be presented, covering the psychological health, physical development, health indicators and functional movement characteristics of young athletes.
‘Research findings gain real value when they reach coaches, athletes and parents and help them make decisions based on data and scientific evidence. In youth sport, it is particularly important to take a long-term view of an athlete’s health and development. Through this seminar series, we want to demonstrate how the latest knowledge about psychological health and physical fitness can be applied in practice to make training effective, safe and sustainable,’ emphasises the project’s lead researcher, RSU Associate Professor Dace Reihmane.
The seminar series is one of the #IMRSportsLV initiatives through which RSU is strengthening the link between sports science and practice by making research findings accessible to coaches, athletes, parents and sports professionals. At the same time, the data and recommendations generated by the project form a knowledge base for the development of the sports sector and evidence-based decision-making.
The first seminar, Sports Psychology Research: From Athlete Profiles to Innovative Interventions, will take place on 6 October from 12.00 to 13.30, both in person at RSU and online. The research findings will be presented by Mg. psych. Beate Evelīna Dišlere, Mg. paed. Solvita Pleinica and Mg. psych. Laima Dance. The seminar will be held as part of RSU Psychology Days 2026.
The second seminar, Young Athletes’ Health: From Research Data to Recommendations for Training Practice, will take place online on 19 October from 14.00 to 15.30. It will present data from the #IMRSportsLV study on the health, physical development and performance of young athletes. Participants will learn about the health risks identified in the study and blood biomarker findings, the importance of biological maturation in assessing physical performance, as well as the main findings from physical and physiological testing. The seminar series will conclude online on 6 November from 15.00 to 16.00 with the seminar Changes in Functional Movement Measures and Asymmetries in Athletes Aged 11 to 18.
Participation in all three seminars is free of charge.
