European Year of Education through Sport
2004
From the beginning of our existence children's
games are aimed at body and motor skill training, as children
are getting ready for life's battle. First, sport games
were like a matriculation exam for tribal youth and they
were alike on every continent. Running and swimming, strength
and stamina, eye certainty and the ability to concentrate,
quickly determined a basic skill canon acquired at elementary
school. The more cultures developed, the more complex sports
appeared.
The meaning of the word "sport"
reaches as far as the times when its idea was not known.
Nowadays, a sport phenomenon may be defined according to
the following two ideas:
- name - for more than five billions inhabitants of the
Earth, the word sport means and evokes the same
- principles - a set of the same rules is commonly applied
all over the World.
 The
majority of people associates sport with competition, with
rivalry based on massive efforts of competitors, in which
the most popular assessment is the result achieved by sportsmen.
It should be however emphasized that sport is not a phenomenon
based merely on victory or defeat, but it has numerous values
being of crucial importance to the development of personality.
Sport offers a lot of possibilities, among others those
of cultural, social and educational character. The development
of civilisation has increased threats to mankind.
A hectic pace of life, weak family bonds,
accelerated process of physical maturation of young people
which is not equivalent to emotional one, these are just
a few reasons for pathologies. And consequently, methods
of healing the society as well as ideas of universal values,
which might positively influence people's lifestyles, are
searched for more and more intensively. These values are
inherent in sport: ideas of peace, fair and healthy competition,
effort and sacrifice. It stimulates the development of both
individuals as well as whole societies.
In the recent years one has discussed and
stressed possibilities of using sport in education and teaching
of children and youngsters, particularly in the form of
physical education (PE) classes, sports training both in
amateur and professional clubs.
PE classes at school play an important role
in contemporary teaching and developing social skills. Thus,
physical education at school needs to be enriched by new
values, forms and reaction methods, creation of new conditions
of development, possibilities of choosing. Sport as a factor
in the development of a man may inspire to various forms
of activities; it may be a source of joy. It should stimulate
and strengthen the motivation to work on self-improvement.
Amateur and professional sport, which involves
mainly young people, should promote and teach mutual understanding,
friendship, respect and fair play as well as forge peaceful
bonds. Apart from the development of physical possibilities,
it watches over the moral development of sportsmen, which
is an indispensable part of each person's personality.
One should remember that sports education
influences not only the above mentioned human personality
but also man's mobility which in turn constitutes an integral
factor of a healthy lifestyle. Without it an appropriate
development of future generations is not possible. The phenomenon
of movement accompanies people during their lives, and life
processes are connected with constant movement.
Aware of the role and value of sport, the
Council of the European Union and the European Parliament
decided to establish the European Year of Education through
Sport 2004 (EYES 2004).
 "Move
your body, stretch your mind" was chosen as the motto
of the year, and its logo was designed by Julia Kotulla,
Student of Communication Designs at the University of Arts
at Berlin-Weissensee, Germany.
The main objective of the campaign is to sensitise the European
public to the importance of sport in an educational context
as well as to increase the significance of sports activities
in school curricula.
The main aims of the European Year of Education
through sport are as follows:
- to raise the awareness of educational and sports organisations
of the need for cooperation to develop education through
sport and its European dimension, bearing in mind the
great interest shown by young people in all types of sports;
- to take advantage of the values conveyed by sport to
increase knowledge and skills, enabling young people to
develop their physical capabilities and inclination to
personal effort, as well as social capabilities such as
teamwork, solidarity, tolerance and fair play in a multicultural
context;
- to raise awareness of the positive contribution made
by voluntary work to informal education, particularly
for young people;
- to promote the educational value of mobility and pupil
exchanges, particularly in a multicultural environ ment,
through the organisation of sports and cultural meetings
as part of school activities;
- to encourage the exchange of good practice concerning
the potential role of sport in education systems in order
to promote the social inclusion of disadvantaged groups;
- to establish a better balance between intellectual and
physical activities during school life by encouraging
sport in school activities;
- to examine the problems linked to the education of young
sportsmen and women engaged in competitive sport.
 Among
numerous institutions which have actively joined in the
celebrations of 2004 as the European Year of Education Through
Sport, there is also UBC Commission on Sport which announced
a grant competition entitled European Year of Education
Through Sport. And this bulletin is devoted to experiences
of local authorities in respect to the organisation of sports
activities among the inhabitants, both young and elderly
ones, living in UBC member cities.
Ms Beata Legowska
Chairperson
UBC Commission on Sport
City of Gdynia
e-mail: ubcsport@gdynia.pl
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