More than 3,000 children trained in fun athletics in Bulgaria, Greece and Italy, organized by the “Levski-Sports for all” Association
“Levski-Sport for all” hosted a final meeting of the coordinators of ” FUNNY – fun athletics” in Sofia, during which the benefits of the training were presented, the participants shared experiences and discussed the possibilities for upgrading.
FUNNY – fun athletics” program was developed by the Association “Levski – Sport for All” to support physical education teachers and coaches in elementary education by type of sport. The purpose of the activities is for children to have maximum fun and gain basic physical skills in any environment, through a game approach and using non-specialized sports equipment. Teachers can organize games anywhere, using the gifts of nature: a cone instead of a ball, a stick instead of a stick, drawing in the sand instead of chalk and paint, etc.
The program was practically implemented for one year in the Association “Levski-Sports for All” together with SK Athletics “Levski-Sofia” for Bulgaria, ASD POLISPORT.PONTEVECCHIO for Italy and MSG Panserraikos for Greece. “Levski” organized classes in Sofia and Varshets with the participation of students from 10 schools, the Italian partner held the classes in 4 schools from the municipality of Bologna, and the Greek partner in 3 schools from Serres and with two of its sports academies, football and basketball.
For the qualitative implementation of the set goals, the partners commissioned Prof. Nina Atanasova from the Vasil Levski National Sports Academy to develop a “Handbook for outdoor sports activities”, which was also translated into English.
The project partners organized training for 40 coaches and managers based on the handbook and distributed it for free use by interested teachers and coaches, not only in their own network but also in that of the European Association of Multi-Sport Clubs.
A special guest at the event was Tsvetelina Kirilova , national indoor 1000m record holder and semi-finalist in the 400m hurdles at the Olympic Games and World Championships, multiple champion of Bulgaria at 400m, 800m and 400m hurdles, and currently one from the best conditioning specialists. Today, he takes care of the physical form of the national rhythmic gymnastics team.
She pointed out how important the role of this initiative is in attracting more children to practice athletics.
Todor Stefanov, chairman of the Levski-Sofia athletics club and OSK Levski, presented the historical role of the athletics section, the most successful in this sport with numerous medals from Olympic, world and European championships, as well as the look into the future , development apart from an elite direction and groups for sports for all.
Lucien Velchev, chairman of the “Levski – Sport for All” Association and coordinator of project activities for Bulgaria and Vanina Milanova – President of the Assembly of the European Association of Multi-Sport Clubs, gen. secretary of the Association “Levski – Sport for All” and project manager, told how the FUNNY project , co-financed by the European Commission , was created, how the activities under it were managed and coordinated, not only in Bulgaria, but also in the partner network, how created the fun cure manual as well as specific results.
The head of the project for Bulgaria is Vanina Milanova, gen. secretary of the Levski-Sports for All Association and president of the assembly of the European Association of Multi-Sport Clubs .
Konstantinos Gkountoulas – Director of Communications, Project Manager of MSG Panserraikos and Coordinator of Project Activities told how it was implemented in Greece. The multi-sport club has settled on a model directed in two directions, on the one hand sports events in 3 schools of the city of Serres with disadvantaged children, and on the other hand two of the club’s sports academies (basketball and football) have included fun athletics exercises , for warming up and cooling down the little athletes.
Emiliano Negrini – member of the management board, and communications manager of ASD POLISPORT.PONTEVECCHIO and coordinator of the sports activities of the project for Italy. The Italian partner has included the FUNNY project in its program to provide a social service to 4 schools in the municipality of Bologna, engaging nearly 900 children in activities.
“Handbook for outdoor sports activities”, Prof. Nina Atanasova, can be found in the E-library of “Levski-Sport for all”.
