This year, for the 17th time, Europe’s largest youth intellectual and sports games “Golden Fish Championship” (Championship) will take place. It is planned that the Championship will gather several tens of thousands of young people from all over Latvia, but more than 10 thousand young people will participate in the Final in order to strengthen soft skills, or personal skills, which are so much needed nowadays. Latvian companies also recognize that these skills are essential – 63% of company representatives face the challenge that young people entering the labor market do not have sufficiently developed personal skills, according to a survey of Latvian companies conducted by “Tele2” and “Norstat”.
After a three-year break due to the pandemic caused by Covid-19, the Championship will return to its usual format this year, when the Final will take place in person over three days – this year in Bauska, which has also acquired the status of Latvia’s youth capital in 2023. School class participation in the Championship can be applied for until April 2, but the finals will take place on May 18, 19 and 20.
“The Golden Fish Championship is an enduring value that we have organized in various formats, despite difficult conditions in some years. This year, too, our goal with the help of the Championship is to help young people develop important personal skills or soft skills, such as communication, leadership, the ability to cooperate in a team, critical thinking, creativity, the ability to self-organize and others,” says Valdis Vancovičs, chairman of the board of Tele2. “These skills are not easily learned without practical exercises. This is also recognized by company representatives in our survey. Namely, about 70% of them believe that it is more difficult to teach an employee personal skills than the professional skills required for the position.”
The championship is designed for teams from grades 6 to 12 and will be held in three stages – application, Semi-Finals and Finals. To participate, students must register their class at www.cempis.lv and complete their homework – the class must clean or improve a place in the school or its surroundings. Determination, ingenuity and cooperation will be valued.
Bauskas County Council Chairman Aivars Okmanis: “Bauskas County has been awarded the title of “Youth Capital of Latvia” this year, which we have won thanks to active young people and youth workers. It is often said that the youth is our future, but I believe that the youth is our present, in which we must invest resources, both administrative, financial and organizational, so that the work with the youth in our region continues, develops and is an example for other municipalities. We are glad that the Championship also fits into our concept of Bauska as an attractive, interesting, attractive venue for various festivals and events. Bauska is a place where people, families, generations, thoughts and ideas meet, so I wish all the students who will visit us this May a meaningful, happy and “delicious” time!”
This season, the “Championship” was created side by side with cooperation partners – “SEB Bank”, “Fizmix”, “Super Manki” beverages, RTU, Bauska County Council and the main organizer and supporter of the championship – “Tele2”.
“Golden Fish Championship” is the biggest annual school event in Latvia. In the 2019 season, when the Championship was held in full for the last time due to the pandemic, it gathered more than 30,000 participants from all regions of Latvia. Mind and sports games “Golden Fish Championship” have been held for the 17th year.
The survey of companies in cooperation with the research company “Norstat” was conducted in March of this year. 539 companies participated in it.
