Alternative Activities

Presuming that the most important thing is to get to children and youth, parents and teachers with programs which promote health forms of activity, Sopot Sports and Recreation Centre, prepared a rich sport offer for all schools which includes basketball, boy's football, volleyball, handball, beach races, athletics, badminton, tennis, uni-hockey, chess competitions or sailing courses.

All these contests are made to find the most active school. The winning school will get prizes and the possibility of taking part in contests on other levels.

In primary schools all children with spinal curvature can attend physiotherapy exercises in school and in the pool. There are also programs of swimming classes and sport classes with table tennis and chess available. The program for alternative way of spending time for children and youth from pathological families has been prepared. It is actually implemented since 1998 and includes youth football teams, which both take part in the program "Play with us" and in Sopot Hall Football League. Apart from systematic training, matches and contests, they took part in the addiction prevention therapies.

'Little passions' is another activity for the youth organized adventure groups. This includes mountain climbing (children and youth do this outside town, or on the special climbing wall), and adventure activities for younger children in the forest. They are guided by instructors and volunteers - psychologists and youth leaders, who apart from leading integration groups, games and activities which are useful in learning own personality, have also worked with teenagers who have personal problems.

In 2000 we have started with two dance groups for girls called "cheerleaders" who learn modern dance to cheerlead while the other groups has football matches. Activities in this group also include talks with therapists to help with growing-up and addiction problems.

NGOs are very important actors in education by sport. The city in cooperation with NGOs tries to make children interested in sports, and make them activated and improve organizing abilities.