SPLISS

Last week SPLISS welcomed policymakers, researchers, and sport leaders from across the globe to the Eidgenössische Hochschule für Sport Magglingen EHSM for two inspiring days of exchange and collaboration.

Together with experts from organisations including UK Sport, Swiss Olympic Team, NOC*NSF, Sport Vlaanderen and Team Belgium, we explored some of the most pressing questions facing elite sport today within 4 key themes:

🔹Strategic investment choices
🔹Governance & leadership
🔹Sustainable performance
🔹Innovation, data & future trends

Across all discussions, one message stood out: success in elite sport is about more than medals. It requires strong governance, sustainable policies, and the ability to adapt in a rapidly changing world.

🙏 A special thank you to the whole team of Eidgenössische Hochschule für Sport Magglingen EHSM for hosting us, and to all participants for their openness, expertise, and valuable contributions.

We look forward to continuing these important conversations and translating the insights into stronger, evidence-informed sport policies worldwide.

🏟️🇫🇷 When work and passion intersect: several members of the team (Veerle De Bosscher, Kari Descheemaeker, Sofie Smismans, Leandro Mazzei, Andreas Ch. Weber) had the honor of being part of the experience at : connecting with old friends, engaging with the VUB elite athletes, admiring Olympic venues and event sites, encountering countless Belgian goosebump moments, and sharing inspiring conversations and passions.

In addition, we closely monitored all results as part of our four-yearly Olympic benchmark analysis of inputs (i.e., national expenditures on elite sport) and outputs (Olympic medals and top 8 finishes) across different countries. We are excited to dive into policy analyses and recommendations to help countries perform even better at the next Olympics. 👀 Keep an eye on our page for updates on the publication of this study report.

🏅𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐨𝐬 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬?

SPLISS offers a detailed analysis and evaluation of your nation's elite sport system, reviewing approximately 100 critical success factors across nine policy pillars to provide insights and recommendations on the relationship between your elite sport policy and elite sport success. We incorporate the perspectives of major stakeholders in elite sport, including policymakers, elite athletes, coaches, and performance directors.

➡️ Interested? Contact us at [email protected].

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐃𝐫. Margot Ricour! 👏🎓

Last Thursday Margot Ricour successfully defended her PhD ‘Operational quality within youth sport clubs: a multidimensional and multi perspective approach’ in Movement and Sport Sciences in the warm proximity of her supervisor Veerle De Bosscher, co-supervisors Annick Willem, Jeroen Scheerder Scheerder, members of the examination committee Koen De Brandt, Anna-Maria Strittmatter, Nicolette Schipper van Veldhoven, Kristine De Martelaer, colleagues, friends and family.

Creating a strong connection between theory and practice, this PhD is a very important and valuable contribution to the sports landscape.

Congratulations, Margot! Very well done!

Our SPLISS researchers had a blast last week at the 31st EASM conference in Belfast, Ireland! 🇮🇪

Over three exciting days, we immersed ourselves in a whirlwind of knowledge, attending over 300 parallel presentations, workshops, and seminars, and connecting with more than 500 fellow delegates. We ignited engaging dialogues around SPLISS and its pillars 🚴‍♂️.

At the start of the week, our young, yet promising and talented PhD researchers Kari Descheemaeker and Lynn Praet joined the PhD seminar where they had the privilege of meeting and discussing their research with young researchers from around the globe. A big thanks to Chris Hobel and Bram Constandt for facilitating this opportunity!

Huge kudos to Kari Descheemaeker, Lynn Praet, Margot Ricour, Sofie Smismans, Ralph Andrew Ramos, Andreas Weber, and Jarmo Makinen for
sharing their research findings during the parallel sessions, and a special applause to Simon Shibli, co-founder of SPLISS, for his enlightening keynote presentation 👏 !

Thanks to the EASM European Association for Sport Management community for fostering this platform of excellence and to SPLISS-founder Veerle De Bosscher for enriching us with valuable research insights and network opportunities 🙌!

We are eagerly looking forward to in Paris.🗼 🥐 We cannot wait to witness the continued progress on our research journey!

Inspiring presentations at EASM

🙌 Great first day of the conference yesterday with an enlighting keynote presentation by Simon Shibli, co-founder of SPLISS, and presentations of our VUB SPLISS research group (Lynn Praet, Sofie Smismans Kari Descheemaeker, Margot Ricour)!

Looking forward to the continuation of the conference 👀.

We are looking for interesting, inspiring projects aimed at achieving social impact with the participation of athletes.

Join the challenge with the project 👇
🔗 https://www.athletes4society.eu

VUB - Vrije Universiteit Brussel Kinetic Analysis; Sports Utrecht University Sport Evolution Alliance Kenniscentrum Sport & Bewegen Institute for Sport Governance KIHU – Research Institute for Olympic Sport Český olympijský tým Bilendi Technology

We are looking for interesting, inspiring projects aimed at achieving social impact with the participation of athletes.

Join the challenge with the project 👇
🔗 https://www.athletes4society.eu

VUB - Vrije Universiteit Brussel I SPLISS I Utrecht University I Sport Evolution Alliance I Kenniscentrum Sport & Bewegen I Institute for Sport Governance I Kinetic Analysis; Sports I KIHU – Research Institute for Olympic Sport I Český olympijský tým I Bilendi Technology

What is the impact of elite sports on society? How to successfully manage this impact? Which are the challenges and opportunities of using athletes as role models in your organisation?

These are some of the questions we will debate during the International Conference of the European Project Athetes4Society on the next 9 February.

This event is a must-attend for athletes and sports organizations but is open to everybody. Register now for free and gain valuable insights on how to use athletes as role models. Don't miss out, sign up 👇

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeD8LYSZ9qBEW2QsJxtGxkHgbpY2EPThaHoijrdc_PH0c4XPA/viewform