• Antonio Morales, President of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, emphasizes that the event “is destined to become the reference fair for Sports in our land”

The President of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, Antonio Morales, together with the Vice President of the Government of the Canary Islands, Manuel Domínguez, and the Minister of Education, Professional Training, Physical Activity and Sports of the Canary Islands Government, Poli Suárez, proceeded on Thursday morning, November 14th, to the official inauguration of the 1st Congress and Fair of Physical Activity and Sports of the Canary Islands at Infecar.

The event was also attended by, among other authorities, the Minister of Economic Development, Industry, Commerce and Crafts, Minerva Alonso, and the Sports Minister of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, Aridany Romero; and the Deputy Minister of Physical Activity and Sports and the General Director of Autochthonous Sports of the Canary Islands Government, Ángel Sabroso and Lorena Hernández.

The great meeting of Sports in the Canary Islands opened its doors to premiere a great program of activities, exhibitions, lectures, debates, and meetings between the main actors of the sector, within the framework of a large exhibition of their capabilities, products, and services. ExpoDeca will occupy the fairgrounds of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria until this Sunday, November 17th, as the great event to learn about, see, and practice the Sports that are developed in the Canary Islands, in an event with free admission for visitors.

The President of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, Antonio Morales, defined ExpoDeca as “the reference event in sports in the Canary Islands” and showed the satisfaction of the insular corporation for “opening the fairgrounds to the entire archipelago hand in hand with the Government of the Canary Islands.”

For Manuel Domínguez, the celebration of ExpoDeca represents “the firm commitment of the Canary Islands Government to sports, moving from words to actions,” remembering that sports represent “support when promoting the Canary Islands.” He also added that during the next four days, “we will bring together in this space such an important economic activity as the sports industry,” therefore inviting “all citizens to participate” in this event.

For his part, Poli Suárez emphasized that ExpoDeca arises from “joint work with other administrations” to become a space where “the world of sports becomes visible,” showing all participants in these four days “the large number of activities that are held” throughout the Infecar spaces. “Today we are delighted with the birth of this fair and we hope this event will be the first of many more,” he added.

ExpoDeca 2024 is promoted by the Government of the Canary Islands, through the Ministry of Education, Professional Training, Physical Activity and Sports, and organized by the Cabildo of Gran Canaria and Infecar Feria de Gran Canaria. The fair has the sponsorship of Fundación Disa, Firgas, Aquavia, Clipper and Binter, and the collaboration of Bestial Race.

Admission to ExpoDeca 2024 is free: interested public can get their tickets for each day of the program on the official event website, expodeca.es. On this same page, details of the agenda can be consulted, which has a schedule from 10:00 to 20:30 hours, Friday and Saturday, and from 10:00 to 15:00 hours on Sunday.

Intense First Day

On this first day, the 1st Congress and Fair of Physical Activity and Sports of the Canary Islands has had the support of the public, who have attended in good numbers to the Infecar facilities, where throughout the day a very extensive agenda of commercial exhibitions, talks and presentations, demonstrations and sports practices has been planned.

For the configuration of this program, in addition to the organization, different federations and clubs have been directly involved, offering in spaces, distributed by different sports modalities, guided sessions with monitors, talks with experts, high-level exhibitions, and even the celebration of official competitions.

The organization recommends that the public who wish to take part in any of the activities come to the venue with appropriate clothing and footwear, towel, water, and their own mat, if necessary. Both in outdoor areas and in scheduled sessions and classes in the pavilion dedicated to fitness. Active participation in these sports is done on a first-come, first-served basis in the different spaces enabled for each discipline.

Outdoors

In outdoor areas, visitors have discovered a program with activities in football, basketball, pickleball, archery, canoeing, cycling, climbing, OCR (obstacle course racing), padel, volleyball, or Nordic walking.

In the case of football, ExpoDeca 2024 has the direct collaboration of the foundations of Unión Deportiva Las Palmas and Club Deportivo Tenerife. Within its calendar of activities, there will be space for seniors, for youth football, and the participation of male and female teams, training category selections, and the promotion of different social projects, such as El poder de la grada (The Power of the Stands), by the DISA Foundation (to promote sporting behaviour in fans from a very young age, in an action that extends to other sports at the fair), or the Desafío Project, with exhibitions of the inclusion teams from both entities.

Club Baloncesto Gran Canaria, Club Baloncesto Islas Canarias, ADM Econy, and the Canary Basketball Federation itself have thrown themselves into programming within the space dedicated to basketball, with the presence of professional players, master classes, and technical talks. 3×3 basketball, with training and matches of the Canary Islands training category selections, a tournament with mixed teams, skills competitions, wheelchair basketball, and Basketball Without Limits, with Club Baloncesto Siete Palmas, are interspersed these days at this point of the fair, with free participation from visitors.

Padel celebrates official competitions these days at ExpoDeca, such as the Kia Challenger of Club El Drago and the IV Canary Islands Cup for junior teams. Visitors can also pick up the paddle to play on this court, also in sessions with qualified instructors. Meanwhile, the Canary Tennis Federation is dedicated to promoting Pickleball at the fair, with day tournaments, open practices, practices with instructors, exhibitions, and even the Canary Islands Championship.

The Canary League of Obstacle Courses is integrated within ExpoDeca, which organizes an area dedicated to obstacle course racing (OCR). The Canary climbing team develops demonstrative training in their own space. For its part, the Canary Mountains Federation gives introductory sessions to Nordic walking.

In addition, the outdoor areas of the fairgrounds are complemented with other modalities such as table tennis, cycling, or canoeing.

The fair reserves a special space next to the main entrance for Expo Motor, in tune with the great passion for motorsports in the archipelago. In fact, ExpoDeca has already been involved in supporting the Canary rally champion Juan Carlos Quintana, who has worn the colors of the 1st Congress and Fair of Physical Activity and Sports of the Canary Islands in his appearances on the national circuit.

Autochthonous Sports

From this first day, ExpoDeca demonstrates its commitment to promoting autochthonous sports by promoting, in different points distributed in outdoor areas, Canarian wrestling, stick game, shepherd’s jump, and Canarian bowling, as well as demonstrations of plow lifting, stone lifting, and staff fighting. Additionally, Canarian Latin sailing, of small boats and larger boats, is also present in the exhibition. All these vernacular sports will have a continued presence at the fair during all days of its celebration.

Pavilion 5

On this first day of ExpoDeca, sessions have been scheduled in pavilion 5 with qualified instructors from the top firms in the Canary Islands. Classes are dedicated to physical maintenance for seniors, Latin dance, indoor cycling, Pilates, back school, tai chi chuan and chi kung, GAP, body combat and autoboxing, Zumba, or step.

Starting tomorrow, sessions of physical exercise for pregnant women, cross for children, a CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) workshop, and sessions of kung-fu, fitness dance, hypopressive exercises, G-BOX, and a merengue workshop will be incorporated into this program. Likewise, part of this space has been set up for commercial exhibition most closely linked to fitness, sports, and health.

Also, on Saturday and Sunday, the Gran Canaria Crow Challenge will be held as a parallel activity, with the participation of about two hundred athletes specializing in cross-training.

Pavilion 6

In pavilion 6, fencing will be protagonists, which will have exhibitions of fencers and open practices during these days, under the tutelage of Gran Canaria clubs; martial arts, with activities in judo, kung-fu, kickboxing and Japanese jiu-jitsu, this Thursday and, starting tomorrow, also with karate, taekwondo and aikido, and gymnastics, in a space where the public has also been able to enjoy commercial exhibitions, and which in successive days will also be occupied by cross training.

Pavilion 7

The lower level of Pavilion 7 hosts from this Thursday, and during the four days of the event, talks, presentations and round tables, except for the evening session on Friday, which moves to the Tamadaba Room. Experts from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the University of La Laguna, Fernando Pessoa University, businesspeople, federation representatives, athletes and high-level athletes, technicians and, in general, specialists from the world of Sports, occupy the panels of the different conferences and round tables scheduled in these days.

Sports journalism, inclusive sport, the use of new technologies in refereeing, sports communication, artificial turf facilities or research around sports performance have been several of the topics proposed in the inaugural session this Friday.

Over the coming days, issues such as physical exercise prescription systems, water sports and active tourism, sport and disability, the positive impact of exercise among cancer patients, health training among special populations, the social responsibility of Sport, event organization, the impact and repercussion of rallies, healthy nutrition, the present and future of Canarian wrestling and the fight against doping will also be addressed.

Likewise, a playroom has also been activated in the lower part of this pavilion for the enjoyment of family audiences and younger visitors, with special prominence for traditional Canarian games. The upper floor concentrates much of the commercial exhibition scheduled during the fair.

In relation to this dissemination activity around sports, and as a complementary activity, ExpoDeca has been the setting since Thursday morning for the VIII Congress of the Canary Association of Sports Management Professionals (ACAGEDE). This event has convened sector professionals in the Canary Islands in presentations grouped around three major blocks: sports and tourism, sports and health, and sports and their regular practice.

Also, complementarily, ExpoDeca hosts the I Conference on Health and Life Promotion, organized by the General Directorate of Teaching Organization, Inclusion and Innovation of the Canary Islands Government. It is being held from today, Thursday, to tomorrow, Friday, and is aimed at teachers and families.

Steps for Life

These days, more than five hundred children, young people, and seniors walk to ExpoDeca from different educational centers to learn about the fair and enjoy the film projection. The presence of this audience adds to the impact of a fair that brings together all audiences to promote healthy lifestyle habits.