Project evolves around the exchange of good practices and skills development in terms of organizing university sport competitions. It is an area of interest of all participating organizations. During the time-frame of the project, practices will be shared between Polish and Dutch organizers of sport events, with an added value from the European association point of view.
Systems of competitions vary in every country, and the project propose a platform to develop those systems by learning from other organizations of the same structure and goals.
For more than 50 years Akademicki Zwiazek Sportowy has been organizing Academic Championships of Poland (AMP), which promote sport among students. The best of them receives the opportunity to compete in European Championships. AMP as series of sport events gathers over 150 universities, more than 40 disciplines and close to 80 nationwide tournaments, with over 15 000 competing students. Each year, tournaments are organized in different cities in Poland – giving different local AZS sections a chance to improve and develop their organizing skills. AZS is responsible for contributing those events as well as establishing rules and general supervision. Moreover, there are dozens of competitions that help to select the best competitors of the region. The tournaments are usually eliminations to further stages of the championships. Best teams and athletes in the AMP have the chance to participate in European Universities Games or Championships (supervised by EUSA) or World University Championships or Universidades (supervised by FISU).
For almost 50 years AZS has also organized competitions for first-year students only. Thanks to Students Activity Zones everyone can find a sport adequate for him- or herself: from snooker and curling to zumba and paragliding.
AZS Warszawa’s main fundament is to organize sport events for university athletes in Warsaw. Right now, the tournaments are held in more than 30 disciplines. The associations is also involved in organizing national university championships, sport festivals and other special sport events.
A vital part of work being done in AZS Warszawa is Varsoviada – sport tournaments held every year for first-year students. It has begun in 1964, which means they have been held already for over 50 years. Every year, over 1000 first-year students take part in the competition. The final weekend of the tournament is a celebration of sport, university and educational values and stands as a great support for young people only just starting their academic journey. AZS Warszawa also organizes series of tournaments for all students in Warsaw, as well as final competitions on national level. An important event for the club is AZS Winter Cup – one of the most relevant winter sports event in Poland. An example of other special sport events is Cooper’s test for all – event that encourages all people to test themselves in a try-out depending on fastest run in twelve minutes. It is an initiative started in 2011 and its goal to encourage people to try out physical activity – no matter the age, physical conditions or other qualifications.
Having an extensive experience in organizing sport and educational events, AZS Warszawa is also a valuable partner for those occasions. Since 2018, the club is involved in organizing events for European Week of Sports in Warsaw. Due to the strong formal structure, every year the club in involved in many sport events, overall promoting physical activity and its values not only among students, but among all.
Studentensport Nederland is organizing about 60 to 70 national student championships every year. The organization is responsible for the regulations, coordination and distribution of all championships. Every competition in various sport disciplines is hosted in a different city every year, and in most cases, they are organized by volunteers from the local student sports club. Studentensport Nederland puts a lot of effort in supporting the organization of those events, trying to improve the transfer of knowledge and preparing materials that could be helpful for local organizers. Trying to gather feedback from every year is also important, so the already gathered experiences can be used again and transferred to other people.
Furthermore, Studentensport Nederland is also responsible for sending top student sport athletes to international student championships and giving them a chance to compete on an international level. This action is being done in close cooperation with the national sport federations, which is an important partnership for the development of sport in general.
European University Sport Association (EUSA) is the licensing body for the European Universities Championships and European Universities Games, which are organized in alternating years. Annually, over 4000 participants take part in their sports event directly, representing over 400 European universities.
EUSA is assigning the organization of each event to student sport organizations from various European countries. The organization is also supervising the preparation, implementation and the evaluation of the event, having set a Rules and Regulations, as well as Minimum Organizational Requirements documents, that are to be followed by each organizer of the European event.
European Universities Championships (EUC) are university sports competitions. In 2019 a total of 21 different sports were included in the Sports Programme of the Championships. Participants in these events are European university teams and individuals. The championships have been organized annually since 2001, and since 2012 they are organized on a biannual basis, with European Universities Games (EUG) normally being organized in even years as a multi-sport events, and the individual championships in odd years.
Lists of European University Championship can be found here (https://www.eusa.eu/events/championships)
European Universities Games (EUG) is a multi-sport university sports competition governed by EUSA. Participants in these events are European university teams and individuals. The Games are organized on a biannual basis, starting with 2012, with European Universities Championships being organized in even years as the individual events. The Games as such represent the largest European multisport student event.
List of European Universities Games can be found here (https://www.eusa.eu/events/games)