According to an Ordinance issued by the Regional Secretariat for Education and Culture published today in the Official Journal, the new rules establishing the model on the indicators for the specific situation of sports development and the stipulation of financial support for sports activities developed locally will enter into force Wednesday, November 11.

These rules, which fall under the regional legislation establishing the Legal Scheme on Support to Sports Associations, stipulate that "the available funds are directed to sports associations that organise competition levels at an island level, provided that they are included in sports federations under the sports public utility statute."

Application requirements, contracting, unit base value, calculation of financial support and its different components, and the indicators are some the different aspects covered in this regional order.

The legal document determines that the unit base value of support is "calculated after the assessment of the indicators of the specific situation of sports development of all eligible associations in the previous sports season. It corresponds to the division of the global financial allocation to be granted each year by the overall points scored in all indicators," according with the general table stipulated in the rules.

The amount of financial support to be allocated to each association is "determined by multiplication of the annual base unit value by the overall points scored in all sports development indicators."

However, the sum annually granted to this area is subject to the budget stipulated in the Regional Annual Plan for the area of sport and will be defined each year by order of the Regional Director for Sport.

The introduction of these new rules will contribute to the strengthening of the Government's intervention in the sports training of young people, aged between 8 and 18, with the aim of improving quality in the practice of sports, an effort that has been carried out for several years in the Azores. Last year, this measure covered more than 860 teams or working groups belonging to 197 entities, encompassing a total of 12,500 athletes.