You cannot make bricks without straw, says an old proverb. Our wheelchair basketball players will improve their skills in the preparations of the national team from June 7. Thanks to the European Union, Lazar Makulović will attend the gathering of the national team equipped with new, high-quality wheelchairs, made especially for him.
A sports wheelchair worth EUR 4,000 was presented to Lazar in the hall of the Serbian Institute of Sport and Sports Medicine by Ambassador Sam Fabrizi, head of the EU Delegation to Serbia. In a positive atmosphere after the practice session of wheelchair basketball players, Ambassador Fabrizi, Vladimir Kuzmanović, President of the Wheelchair Basketball Association of Serbia and Mladen Pajević, Secretary-General of that association, wished Lazar that the new wheelchair brings him luck and much success at the European Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Athens.
It took a lot of time and effort to make a high-performance sports wheelchair according to Lazar’s measurements. As part of last year’s European Week of Sport in Serbia and the “Trčim za školu” challenge, an additional goal was set for all participants – to run over 1,094 km. That is the exact distance between Belgrade and Athens – where the European Wheelchair Basketball Championship (Division B) will take place in July. The goal was exceeded in a joint effort with more than 14,500 km run.
Through the “TreninGO” app, everyone was given the opportunity to join the challenge and help schools in Serbia get sports equipment for physical education classes. The EU delegation presented cash prizes with a total value of RSD 600,000 to the three schools with the largest number of kilometres run.
Over 60 events were organised in more than 20 cities across the country during the European Week of Sport 2020, whose national coordinators were the Olympic Committee of Serbia and the Ministry of Youth and Sports. During the last seven days, many sports events were organised in Aranđelovac, Bor, Zaječar, Knjaževac, Pirot, Sombor, Kuršumlija, Golubac, Despotovac, Kruševac and Vršac, such as “Sports Challenge”, “School Sports Day” and “Olympic Lesson” which were realised through demonstrations of various sports, public practice sessions, educational workshops and mini-tournaments. Three major sporting events were organised in Belgrade: Festival of Urban Culture at Dorćol Platz, “BeActive night” and two night races in Tašmajdan Park, as well as Sports Day on Ada – the main event held at the national level.
Although sport and physical activity significantly contribute to the well-being of European citizens, the level of physical activity is currently stagnant and even declining in some countries. That is the idea behind the European Week of Sport – to raise awareness of how important an active lifestyle is for everyone. No matter who we are or what we do, even a slight increase in regular physical activity can have a profound positive impact on our long-term health. The idea behind the Week is to give people around the world a springboard to be active!
