A Blueprint For Our Youth and Their Health: What Is Stopping Us?
This evening at Aspmyra Stadion in Bodø, as Bodø/Glimt vs. Inter Milan lit up the UEFA Champions League stage (Wednesday, Feb. 18), the club provided a spotlight for an important discussion amid a time when society urgently needs unifying forces between school, sports clubs, and municipalities. The event also gathered Norges Toppidrettsgymnas (NTG), local education leaders, sport representatives, and public authorities including the Mayor of Bodø, Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen, and the Bodø Sports Council.
NextGen Neighbor Network’s Louise Mohn spoke about sport as a vehicle for belonging, growth, youth development and the impact super role models from sports can have on the lives of youth. Accompanying Louise Mohn was her nephew and NextGen Neighbor Network Ambassador, Alexander Mohn, a leader in his own right, as an ambassador for Norsk Narkotikaforebyggende Forening (NNFF) who last spring led the charge with the Russ council at Nordahl Grieg VGS in Bergen by making an admirable and joint decision: to say NO to drugs and take an active stand.
Louise Mohn shared that her hometown of Bergen has set the toneand is a blueprint where a strong collaboration between schools, sports clubs, and Idrettsråd within each local area exists, alongside cross-sector cooperation across the city. This is where SUPER ROLE MODELS turn rivals into allies. Competitors become collaborators, because the next generation needs a strong force of super role models unifying for their needs regardless of background, parental involvement, or financial situation.
Part of the region's success is due to decades of persistent, principled, and deeply human decency work by Arild Åge Hovland and his LIM Project (short for Lekser, Idrett og Mat - Homework, Sports, and Food). His efforts, camps, collaborations, and community sustainable infrastructures have been recognized and awarded with the King's Medal of Merit, 20.11.2024
Launched in 2017, LIM was designed to introduce a broad spectrum of different sports to children — free of charge after school - for children to find the sport suited for them, regardless of background, financial situation or parents involvement. Its philosophy is simple, yet profound:
Homework help for girls and boys together to give children stability, mastery, and confidence.
10-15 different sporting activities to introduce children to all sorts of sports.
A nutritious meal provided by a local Labour inclusion company.
Volunteers from Immigrant-background families
Collaboration with regional immigration center
According to Sandrino Birkeland at Idrettsrådet i Bergen, there are 377 kids in the LIM program and the society saves 1,248 million kroner in a lifelong measurement. The annual savings are 18 million kroner per year. (estimated by the Norwegian Directorate of Health’s calculator on the socioeconomic costs of physical inactivity)
“It is imperative and crucially urgent that all children from ages 0-20 years old stay physically active. LIM is the most inclusive and efficient solution for integration, inclusion, and belonging for the whole local area. We already know what works and have a blueprint — the question is what is stopping us from bringing it across all of Norway.” — Louise Mohn
Bodø/Glimt’s Head of the Community Departure, Ørjan Berg and NTG Bodø Managing Director / Head of Elite Sport, Anette Nybø highlighted how this type of philosophy is already being put into practice locally through Norges Toppidrettsgymnas (NTG) Bodø and its close collaboration with Bodø/Glimt. At NTG Bodø, social capital, well-being, and development are priorities. Students are consistently supported by staff, teachers, and coaches who emphasize that success is not defined by athletic performance alone, but by developing the whole person — grounded in strong values, belonging, and social responsibility. NTG Bodø is proud to have implemented Johann Olav Koss’ MOT as part of their curriculum and proudly collaborating with other MOT schools.
The evening continued with representatives from lower secondary schools Bankgata, Hunstad U and Inge Andersen, Chair of the Board, NTG Foundation highlighting the impact of MOT and the coordinated cooperation between schools in Bodø, demonstrating how consistent values across classrooms and training grounds create safer environments for youth. From sport, Bodø/Glimt’s Ørjan Berg, Erlend Asbøl (IK Grand), and Principal Ole Kristian Holmeslet from Alberthaugen School presented concrete examples of shared philosophy and social capital, highlighting the importance of collaboration between clubs and education. The discussion culminated in a panel with Mayor Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen and Bodø Sports Council Managing Director Hilde Anneland, moderated by Hans-Christian Vadseth.
Together they returned to a simple question: how institutions can act less as separate sectors and more as one ecosystem around youth?
The consensus was clear — sustainable development for young people is created through shared responsibility, where school, sport, and community operate as one continuous support network.
