- The First Congress and Fair of Physical Activity and Sports of the Canary Islands, to be held from November 14 to 17 at Infecar, offers a comprehensive agenda of talks, presentations, and roundtables with key players in the sector
The First Congress and Fair of Physical Activity and Sports of the Canary Islands, set to take place at Infecar from November 14 to 17, is shaping up as the major event of the year for sports in the Canary Islands just days before its debut. The event will offer free admission for the public to view and participate in various sports activities in a large space dedicated to physical activity. But ExpoDeca is also designed to be the annual forum for the sector in the Canary Islands. Therefore, its program includes a wide range of talks, presentations, and roundtables to discuss the current and future state of sports in the Islands, featuring specialists, athletes, public entities, and businesses directly involved in delivering content. It promises to be a significant conversation that the industry and its key figures are seeking.
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 Fair of Gran Canaria.
Entry to ExpoDeca 2024 is free: the interested public can reserve their place on the official event website, expodeca.es. This page also provides details of the program and updates about the event.
Thursday, November 14:
On the first day of ExpoDeca, Thursday, November 14, a forum on sports journalism is scheduled from 10:00 to 11:30 AM. It will be the first event of the morning, held in the lower area of Pavilion 7 at Infecar. This table will be moderated by Ignacio Sánchez Acedo (head of Sports at Canarias 7 newspaper), with participation from Armando Vallejo (head of Sports at Radio Television Canaria) and Óscar Campillo (director of the digital sports newspaper Relevo), along with windsurfer Iballa Ruano and Stand Up Paddle specialist Alba Frey, representing individual sports athletes.
This morning session will continue from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM with a lecture proposed by Fernando Pessoa University: The Importance of Communication for Sports Management. Journalism and sports professionals, a successful duo, which will be developed by Sima González, director of the Double Degree in Journalism and Audiovisual Communication, and Martin González, director of Physical Activity and Sports Sciences.
Finally, from 12:30 to 1:30 PM, OPSA. Design, installation, and maintenance of natural and artificial sports facilities will take center stage in this space of talks, with the table Grass and Microplastics. The future of artificial and sports grass facilities, which will feature the interventions of Leonor Gallardo (CEO of the IGOID Group and vice-rector of the University of Castilla La Mancha), Guillermo Bozal (technical engineer delegate for the Canary Islands of OPSA), Ricardo Lezcano (Commercial Director of OPSA) and Salvador Raya (director of Institutions of BBVA in the Canary Islands).
The afternoon session for these talks and conferences at ExpoDeca will once again occupy the lower area of Pavilion 7 at the fairgrounds. The Faculty of Physical Activity and Sports Sciences of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) will propose the lecture Innovation and Science in the FCAFD of the ULPGC: contributions from the human performance, physical exercise, and health research group, scheduled from 4:30 to 5:30 PM, with the participation of Joaquín Sanchís and Marcos Martín, secretary and vice dean of the Faculty, respectively.
The Canarian Institute of Sports Arbitration (ICAD) will perform a presentation of its organization from 5:30 to 6:30 PM, in a table that will also address the Use of new technologies in arbitration: VAR, instant replay, and hawk-eye. This call will be attended by José María García (director of ICAD), Francisco Javier Vázquez (VAR), Francisco Araña (Instant Replay), and Luis M. Gil (Hawk Eye).
This afternoon session will be concluded with the lecture proposed, from 6:30 to 7:30 PM, by the Gran Canaria Basketball Club, Basketball for Inclusion, led by Javier Choren, director of the SUMA Project.
Friday, November 15:
The program of talks and lectures at ExpoDeca planned for Friday, November 15, will continue to develop in the lower area of Pavilion 7 during the morning. La Provincia promotes the debate forum Exercise Prescription Systems: Models and Opportunities, from 9:30 to 11:00 AM, moderated by the director of the newspaper, Antonio Cacereño, and with the interventions of Antonio Ramos (doctor and professor at the ULPGC), Alfonso Jiménez (professor at the Rey Juan Carlos University and director of the Center for Research in Sports Sciences, also a participant for the Andalusian system of physical activity prescription), Carmen M. Artíles (coordinator of the Physical Activity and Health Group of the Canarian Society of Family and Community Medicine), Noemí Martínez (physical educator, physiotherapist, and professor at the European University) and Javier Lobato (head of the Primary Care Service of the General Directorate of Care Programs of the Canary Health Service).
The Faculty of Physical Activity and Sports Sciences of the ULPGC will again be a protagonist in this agenda, with the lecture Nautical Sports and Active Tourism: Economic and Social Development Opportunity and Alternative to Massification, scheduled from 11:00 to 12:00 PM, with the participation of Adelia González (professor of Sailing and Sliding Sail Tables of the Faculty) and Juan Serantes (Associate Professor at the FCAFD and consultant and project manager in the field of active tourism, sustainability, physical activity in nature, and social innovation).
The Spanish Paralympic Committee, an exceptional participant in this first edition of ExpoDeca, promotes, from 12:00 to 1:30 PM, the roundtable Sport and Disability in the Canary Islands, in which participants such as Paqui Romero (Las Palmas Swimming Club, technician at the Paralympic Games), Lionel Morales (paralympic athlete), Sara Mateos (director at DISA Foundation), Mariona Masdemont (responsible for the Paralympic Relay Canary Islands), Eduardo Martínez (CD La Vida Sigue en Positivo), Juan C. Hernández (Canary Federation of Adapted Sport) and Miguel Planas (CD Impulse) are scheduled to participate.
The afternoon session this Friday, November 15, will move to the Tamadaba Room at Infecar, with a program that starts with the lecture proposed by the Training Room: exercise cancer: Sport and Disability in the Canary Islands, led by Marta Capdevila, CEO of this entity. It will be from 4:00 to 4:45 PM.
Active Training Wellbeing Health Sports SL programs, from 4:45 to 5:30 PM, the lecture Training for Health in Special Populations, with Samuel Sarmiento, CEO of the firm.
The Department of Specific Didactics of the University of La Laguna (ULL) is the entity promoting the presentation Training, Social Responsibility, and Inclusion through Physical Activity and Sports at the ULL, which brings together, from 5:30 to 6:15 PM, Jorge Miguel Fernández and Abraham García, both professors of the Degree in CAFyD at the ULL and members of the Research and Teaching Innovation Group in Physical Activity and Sports.
Finally, the Association of Sports Events of the Canary Islands promotes the Meeting of Organizers of Sports Events in the Canary Islands, with the presence of different managers of these firms, in a meeting scheduled from 6:15 to 7:00 PM.
Saturday, November 16:
On Saturday, November 16, the talks at ExpoDeca return to the lower area of Pavilion 7 at Infecar during the morning, with a program that opens with the foundations of UD Las Palmas and CD Tenerife, under the title Project Challenge: Canarian Football for Inclusion. It will be from 10:00 to 11:00 AM, with the presence of Víctor Rivero (coach of the i+i team of UD Las Palmas) and Artamy Rodríguez (project coordinator and responsible for the Inclusive Sport and Disability Area of the CD Tenerife Foundation).
The Impact and Relevance of the Canary Islands Rally as WRC is the title of the lecture scheduled from 11:00 to 12:00 PM, led by the Canary Islands Rally, with its director, José A. Batista, and its promoter, Germán Morales.
The General Directorate of Sports of the Government of the Canary Islands proposes, from 12:00 to 12:30 PM, the talk The Importance of the Winning Project, with its head, José Francisco Pérez Martín as speaker, along with the members of the Winning Project team.
The morning closes with Life-Pro Nutrition, with the lecture Nutrition and Training: Losing Fat and Gaining Muscle Mass, from 12:30 to 1:30 PM, and with the interventions of Carlos Alix (researcher in Neuromuscular Physiology, and professor, advisor and physical trainer, as well as Co-CEO at ICEN) and Sergio Espinar (director at ICEN, pharmacist and nutritional advisor).
The afternoon session will continue in the same location of the lower area of Pavilion 7, with the roundtable Present and Future of Canarian Wrestling, promoted by the ULPGC, from 4:30 to 5:30 PM, moderated by Ulises Castro, professor of Traditional Canarian Games at the ULPGC, and with the interventions of Rayco Ramírez (coordinator of the project Cabildo de Gran Canaria with the Canarian Wrestling Schools and president of the Canarian Wrestling Club Unión Gáldar), Juan Ramón Marcelino (former president of the Regional Federation of Canarian Wrestling and promoter of the Insular School of Canarian Wrestling of Hierro), Lorena Mateo (wrestler of the Santa Rita Wrestling Club) and Carlos Sanfiel (tax advisor for different sports clubs and insular wrestling federations, former wrestler and former insular federative).
From 5:30 to 6:30 PM, the Vice-Ministry of Physical Activity and Sports of the Government of the Canary Islands and the Canary Islands Anti-Doping Commission program the lecture Canary Islands Anti-Doping Project. Fight Clean and Defend Health, with Antonio Ramos Gordillo, doctor and professor at the ULPGC.
From 6:30 to 8:30 PM, this agenda of talks and lectures takes a more active tone, with the Urban Dance Master Class and its Workshop, in an activity led by choreographer Ruth Prim and which will feature various performances from different Dance Schools of Gran Canaria.
Sunday, November 17:
The last day of ExpoDeca, Sunday, November 17, will also include the farewell to this agenda, with the re-edition in the lower area of Pavilion 7 at Infecar of this Urban Dance Master Class, in a Workshop context, with more performances by dance schools from Gran Canaria, this time under the direction of choreographer Daniela Blasco, from 10:30 AM to 1:00 PM. A fitting end to a comprehensive program with a wide variety of topics and interlocutors around the sports sector in the Canary Islands.
The ACAGEDE congress
In addition to this agenda of talks and lectures, ExpoDeca will host the development of the VIII Congress of the Canary Association of Sports Management Professionals (ACAGEDE), on November 14 and 15. This event convenes professionals in the sector in the Canary Islands. There will be different CEOs of companies that develop their activity in this field, along with specialists, experts, and high-level administration technicians, as well as the main managers in the management of Sports in the Canary Islands.
The speakers and participants in the debates also include, in the same way, a significant representation of guests from important national organizations. The contents to be addressed at this congress are encompassed in three major blocks: Sports and Tourism, Sports and Health, and Sports and its usual practice.
