Lancaster team all set as 50th anniversary International Youth Games gets under way

A team from the Lancaster area are competing in a milestone edition of a Europe-wide event getting under way today (July 30).

The International Youth Games, which sees Lancaster and three twin towns compete across several different sports, is celebrating its 50th year this time around.

Aalborg in Denmark are this year’s host city, with other representatives hailing from Almere in the Netherlands and Rendsburg in Germany.

Lancaster came away with 94 medals - 42 of them gold - at last year’s Games.

There are 11 events altogether and Lancaster will compete in six: athletics, badminton, basketball, golf, karate and swimming.

Below, young players from Morecambe and Heysham Golf Clubs who are taking part in the Games

It’s a four-day event which begins today (July 30) and ends on Saturday (August 2).

The Lancaster teams arrived on Monday and Tuesday and have enjoyed a mix of sightseeing and training before their competitive events begin with golf today.

Earlier this month on Beyond Radio’s Saturday Sport Show, the coach of Youth Hoops Basketball  - who will be taking part for a second year - spoke about the Games and the formation of the club, which was only a matter of years ago.

Domokos Dani (below), who was introduced to basketball aged seven, formed the club in 2022 initially under a different name.

He had previously coached a variety of other teams at amateur and semi professional levels, including his own team ‘London Red Stars’ when he lived in the capital, and the Lancaster University men’s and women’s team, who won the Northern Conference Cup.

“It was after that when I realised that I was going to try and transition my whole career into coaching basketball. 

“I signed up for a sports coaching course at Manchester Metropolitan University which I’ve just graduated from, and I got a full time job just after COVID at Sports For All centre in Oldham as a basketball development officer, that was my first job.

“I got about 500 children into Oldham and Greater Manchester, and when my daughter was born I really wanted to develop a local basketball club so I had my logo for the London Red Stars and changed it to Lancaster Red Stars.”

At the first session in July 2022, ‘Coach Dom’ was training 45 children and now that number has risen to 150, with the club having started a girls’ program just over a year ago which currently has around 35 girls involved.

Since its formation in Lancaster, the club has expanded to host sessions for kids in Morecambe, Kendal and Sedbergh.

Speaking about the Youth Games, Dom said: “The Youth Games are just absolutely fantastic and we are extremely excited to be going again.

“Last year, we went out to Germany and we represented Lancaster in basketball for the first time in 49 years.

“It was an absolute privilege for us to be the first basketball team to do this for Lancaster at the Games and it was just all about representing.

“I can’t thank the principle leaders and organisers enough for the work they put in and the regular meetings, chasing us up with paperwork, it takes up a lot of time - they’re volunteers and they’ve been doing this for many years so a big shoutout to them.”

Youth Hoops have taken 12 representatives out to Aalborg with them to take part this year (below).

“From what the principle leaders have said, Aalborg will be huge and it sounds like they always invest a lot into the Youth Games," he said.

“They have close to 2,000 participants and it sounds like it’s going to be one of the biggest Games in recent history so we are really looking forward to it.

“In terms of results, it is a tough competition and some of the teams are really good so it will be a challenge.

“Last year, our team was the youngest and the majority of our players were between 12 and 14, and playing against higher age groups.

“Some of those guys are coming back this year and we’re hoping for good results but it’s not just about that, we’re happy to represent the sport and be part of such a milestone and such an experience.

“The guys love every part of it, even going for dinner with the team and having a laugh, it’s just a great occasion.”

Follow the latest results at the International Youth Games by following the ‘International Youth Games - Lancaster’ Facebook page