The first event Školarijada (the School Olympics - translator’s remark) was organised by the International School Sport Federation (ISF) in Belgrade, on 13 to 19 September 2021 and gathered children aged 13 to 15. The participating countries were Uganda, Namibia, India, the USA, France, Ukraine, Belgium, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Mexico, Russia, the Checz Republic, the United Arab Emirates, Nepal, Belarus, Poland etc.
There were various sport disciplines – judo, swimming, badminton, football, basketball, chess, orienteering and many other sports. Children who came to Belgrade from all over the world had the opportunity to demonstrate their skills. Majority of the participants, though still young, aged 13 – 15, had almost professional-like sport experience, while other participants came to acquire new experience and make new friends. Having in mind that the participants competed in 14 different sports (athletics, badminton, basketball, 3x3 basketball, chess, football, judo, karate, orienteering, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, volleyball and wrestling), the whole competition was extremely exciting and tense, there were some tears, but also joy and laughter.
Savremena Gimnazija girls acting like reporters
On this occasion Savremena Gimnazija girls Aleksandra Mosurović, Mia Đaković, Sofija Vejapi, Tamara Grujić, Marta Marinković, Sofija Stevanović and Lara Veselinović tried to act in the role of student reporters and every day brought the news on successful performance of the competitors across Belgrade.
During Školarijada I met some coaches, delegation representatives, athletes. You could feel the sports spirits everywhere. I had the chance to see how they think and view the world. I have to point out the fact that fair-play is so important. From the very beginning raising and maintaining the mental levels could possibly have been the most challenging task of the event. On Kalemegdan, every day, after the sport competitions were over, “the fun zone” would start, and there you could find several “well-being” stands. As someone who could experience bad things in sport regarding the atmosphere, I do think that raising awareness of interpersonal relationships in sports environment is extremely important. Honestly, I wasn’t at my best the first day of Školarijada. Maybe I got up on the wrong side of the bed, maybe it wasn’t my day, I don’t know. However, what I am sure of is that ISF made my day, that one and all the days that came after that, and that getting up on the wrong side of the bed might not be such a bad thing, said Lara Veselinović, a young journalist from Savremena Gimnazija.
I am really pleased with the experience that I gained at the ISF festival. I met a lot of people and still keep in touch with them. Besides, I am glad that for the first time I found myself in the role of a reporter and learnt more about it. The part of the festival that made the strongest impression on me was “the fun zone” on Kalemegdan, that took place at the end of each day. There, in “the fun zone” there were various activities: we could try out different sports, dance, sing, represent our countries, taste the specialties of different countries, and what’s the most important – have fun, said Sofija Vejapi, another young journalist of Savremena Gimnazija.
Školarijada – the place where new sports friendships begin
Školarijada was the perfect place for the students from around the world to develop heathy team and competitive spirit, and learn about different cultures through sports activities and hanging out together. It is important to stress that all the games and competitions were held without audience, in compliance with all the preventive measures introduced because of the current epidemiological situation.
