BEST PRACTICE EXAMPLES - SFoA - SLOVENIA
INCLUSION OF FORMER ATHLETES AND THEIR REACTIVATION THROUGH PARTICIPATION IN RECREATIONAL SPORTS ACTIVITIES
INCLUSION OF FORMER ATHLETES IN RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES
In the field of sports, many activities of former top athletes or veterans can be traced in the Republic of Slovenia. The activity is carried out as part of regular training, which takes place throughout the year, as well as in the form of various meetings which take place in the content of socializing and competitions. These activities are not officially recognized by national sports federations or international federations.
In the Republic of Slovenia the national sports program and the law of sport in their contents do not define the activities of veteran sports. As a result, veterans sport is not defined in the framework of co- financing annual sports programs in the national and local community levels.
Most of the sports clubs in which former top athletes are still active are organized in accordance with the planned contents of financing by the national sport program of Republic of Slovenia. These are recreation sports programs for adults and sports programs for people over 65 years of age. The programs are performed once to twice a week. Sports clubs and their associations, which are bit more active, also organize veteran competitions or meetings at the national and also international level.
The document of the Olympic Committee of Slovenia, which defines officially approved competition systems, does not define the category of veterans. As a result, the mentioned content is not part of the co-financing of sports programs at both local and national level. The organization of tournaments and other meetings of sports veterans are co- financed from their own, sponsor or donor sources.
In the following, we present a few examples of activities in the field of veteran sports in football, handball, swimming and gymnastics at community and national level
RESEARCH ON THE BEST EXAMPLES OF IMPLEMENTATION OF RECREATIONAL - SPORTS ACTIVITIES (FREE, OUTDOOR, IN THE LOCAL COMMUNITY, ALL AGE GROUPS…)
Ajdovščina Sports Association, unites 52 sports clubs. The membership of these includes the population of children, youth, the population of adults, and also the population of senior citizens over 65 years of age.
At the level of sports clubs in the comunity of Ajdovščina, veterans activities are carried out within some sports programas wich take place in two contents,
-Year-round sports recreation programs and organization or participation in some sports events.
In the Ajdovščina Sports Association, we have some sports clubs wich are active in the field of veteran sports.
Football club Primorje-Veteran section, Club of vaterans handball players and Sport club Atletik.
In the following, we present the activities of named local sport clubs.
Football club Primorje-Veteran section participate in veteran competitions organized by the Football Federation of Slovenia. Competitions are organized in some regions of the country. The best teams are usualy meet at the veteran tournament which takes place at the headquarters of the Football Federation of Slovenia.
In the 2018/19 season, the Veterans competed in the finals of the Veterans League and won 3rd place. In addition of competition at the regional and national levels, members participate also at veteran competitions at the international level.
Veterans trainings take place once or twice a week in the sports facilities managed by the Institute of Sport Ajdovščina.
The Sports club Atletic brings together veterans in the man-handball. The activities of the association take place once a week in the sports and laisure infrastructure managed by the institute of Sports of Ajdovščina. The activties include playing basketball, football and handball.
Members of the sport club participate in both national and international tournaments in the field of veteran handball. In 2011, members achieved first place at the Ligniano Veterans Handball Tournament
The Ajdovščina woman handball veteran players- brings together 15 members from the handbal club wich play in the first Slovenian league.
The club was founded on April 5, 2011 with the purpose of socialize and play handball. Enthusiasm and friendship is a main reason to participate at tournaments at the national and also international level. Members are attending aproximately six tournamets annually.
The club is also a organizer of the tournament, which is traditionally organized in Ajdovščina which is attended by teams from Croatia, Austria and Italy.
Member of the club also have organized trainings, under the guidance of an active trainer, who is also their member. The purpose of training is to maintain healthy attitude and socializing.
Activities like a coaches and organizers in the sports clubs are also carried out by some individuals - former top athletes who have achieved more visible results on an international level.
Danilo Pudgar
-Participant in ski jumping in the 1972 Olympic Games in Sapporo,
-Coach of the national team in ski jumping at Olympic Games the Sarajevo 1984 and Calgary 1988,
Adrian Fegic
-Winner of the Marshal Tito Cup (Yugoslav footbal Cup) with the Rijeka footbal team in year 1978, 1979.
-In the year 1984-85 he was the Rijeka footbal club top scorer,
-In the 1984-85 UEFA Cup, he scored four goals, two against Real Madrid at the stadium in Rijeka,
Silvan Lulik
-Six-time national champion in reli under the former state of Yugoslavia,
-Founder of Autokub Motorsport Ajdovščina 2016,
-An active member of the sportclub, which is the organizer of the rally Ajdovščina-the event is attended by 30,000 people.
Aleksander Lapajne
Since 1987 he has been a coach at the Ajdovščina handball club,
-As a cheaf coach of physical preparation of players and assistant selector of the member handball team, he participated in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
INCLUSION OF FORMER ATHLETES INTO THE SOCIAL COMMUNITY AFTER A SPORTS CAREER
In 2014, the National Sports Program the Republic of Slovenia were adopted, which outlined guidelines for the organization of sports up to the period 2023. Documents also have a content of employment of top athletes and top coaches in public administration, as well as pensions for athletes. The content also cover the area of dual career of athletes together with various measures and activities.
The contents include the coordination of the athletes activities in the training process together with the activities related to education and gaining work experience.
Measures in the Republic of Slovenia in the field of dual careers are:
-Field of education, It provides for the adaptation of the education process according to the athletes obligations and trening activities,
-The field of employment of athletes, is defined in the law of sport. There are defined contents which enable the employment of athletes in public administration on the basis of the achieved result. Thus, successful athletes in the Republic of Slovenia are employed in the army, police or financial administration during their active careers.
-The right to an exceptional pension, is also defined in the law of sport. Athletes who have achieved exceptional results are entitled to an exceptional pension after the end of their sports career.
Contents of employment of professional staff in sport clubs; Regarding the performance of professional work in sports, in some municipalities it is also planned to employ coaches wich perform their work in clubs at the local level. The best example of good practice is the city of Ljubljana, which employs about 90 coaches with the local budget of municipality.
The criteria for obtaining funds from municipality regarding the employment of coaches are defined in a way that the sport clubs can submit a candidacy of a former top athlete who does not have a completed sports faculty but has a completed training program for coaching by some national sport federation.
Co-financing of trainers is also provided by some other communities in a less content of budget. Mostly of sport clubs do not employ coaches regulary. They are employed part-time in some cases also they do voluntary work.
The measure to support athletes after the end of their sports careers is also provided by the Olympic Committee of Slovenia within the Olympic Career Center. It creates the conditions to support the dual careers of programs in the fields of education and employment in the economy sector.
A Sports federation of Ajdovščina also support the education proces of athletes in the way of sport and create a conditions for obtain budget for work in sport clubs and some projects in the community of Ajdovščina.
It is always necessary to include in the system organization in sports to plan the process of education and also to create opportunities for get some some work experiance during the active sports carreer.
Of course, an athlete must also have a vision of what he wants to become in life after finishing his sports career.
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