Sports and Wellbeing Committee supplements allocation criteria for sports grants with commitment to ethical policies
In its meeting on 25 September 2025, the Sports and Wellbeing Committee approved the guideline for rewarding adult athletes from Espoo and discussed the reform of the swimming pool and gym wristbands for special groups. It also took note of the Sports and Exercise Unit’s press release on the condition of beaches and beach patrols in Espoo and the response to the Council’s question on the safety of children and young people on waterfronts.
This was the first meeting of the new Sports and Wellbeing Committee.
“There were many things on the agenda of this first meeting. It may not have been the softest start for a new chairperson, but the meeting went well. We are in a fantastic position with a good committee and conversational members,” says Terhi Valkeapää, Chair of the Sports and Wellbeing Committee.
The Sports and Exercise Unit issues annual sports and targeted grants to Espoo sports clubs and associations. A section on responsibility has been added to the general requirements and guidelines.
Grant applicants and partners must commit to the ethics policy of the City of Espoo Sports and Exercise Unit and the principles of a safer space. The way to demonstrate this is to appoint a harassment contact person and by showing that the club or association has created instructions for stopping harassment. The new allocation criteria will be in place in 2026.
“Clubs in Espoo are aware and already follow our ethics guidelines, but it was important to add responsibility to the allocation criteria. Club activities are a platform for 100 million encounters every year, which is why we emphasise the responsibility angle,” says Sports Director Martti Merra.
Updates to the reward criteria for Espoo’s adult athletes
The Committee clarified and restricted the reward criteria for adult athletes from Espoo. In the future, Espoo will reward Olympic and Paralympic athletes who achieve a medal in the Olympic or Paralympic Games or in the World or European Championships of their sports.
Olympic and Paralympic sports are those officially confirmed for the previous and next Olympic or Paralympic Games and those confirmed for future Games. Summer and winter sports are considered on a four-year cycle. This change is to ensure that rewards are better targeted at successful elite athletes.
Improvements to swimming safety and better swimming instruction
The Committee took note of the response to the Council’s question on the safety of children and young people at waterfronts and the press release on the condition of beaches and beach patrols. Service and safety development at beaches in next summer will focus on better delineation of supervised areas and addition of instructions and information for parents in different languages. Additionally, work will be arranged in a way to allow for more lifeguards at beaches on hot days.
The Sports and Exercise, Finnish Basic Education, and Finnish Early Childhood Education Units and the Unit for Swedish Education and Cultural Services are discussing methods to develop children’s swimming school. The aim is to have one more session for early childhood education
groups at a swimming pool and a beach day with natural water, as well as an opportunity for families to go swimming together. For schoolchildren, the aim is to create an intensive swimming school period, most likely for year 2 pupils, which would add to the swimming school sessions.
Special group swimming pool and gym wristband reform returns to the preparation stage
The Sports and Wellbeing Committee returned the special groups’ sports wristband reform to the preparation stage.
However, Sports and Exercise Services will stop processing swimming pool and gym wristband applications for special groups on 25 September 2025, until the matter returns to the agenda of the next Committee meeting on 27 November 2025. Applications posted in the mail by 25 September 2025 will be processed.
In addition to other topics, the Committee noted the budgets for the Sports and Exercise Unit and the promotion of welfare and health, interim report II of the strategy, and processed the officeholder decisions.
The Sports and Wellbeing Committee prepared a proposal for the 2026 budget, the 2027–2028 financial plan and the 2026–2035 investment programme for its area of responsibility for the preparation of the Mayor’s budget proposal.
Read more about the decisions in the minutes (in Finnish).(external link, opens in a new window)