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Teams of 10 students from 7th and 8th grade, not certified athletes, from primary schools participating in the Move, Debrecen! school programme competed in a playful competition at the event called “Move with St. Basil!” at the St. Basil Greek Catholic High School, Technical School, Technical School, Vocational School, and Skills Development School in Debrecen, which is under the maintenance of the Archdiocese of Hajúdorog, on the 30th of January, 2025.
The participants, students from Debrecen Bolyai János Primary School and Primary Art School, Debrecen Fazekas Mihály Primary School, Debrecen Hunyadi János Primary School, Debrecen Kazinczy Ferenc Primary School, and Primary Art School, Debrecen Karácsony Sándor Primary School, Debrecen Petőfi Sándor Primary School, Primary Art School, and Szent Efrém Greek Catholic Kindergarten, Primary School, and Primary Art School were greeted by the Head of the member institution, Andrea Bodnárné Nyíri, before the competition, which featured Exatlon-like tasks. Father László Kiss, the school’s spiritual director, encouraged the students, among other things, with the example of an athlete friend who said he wanted to live a full life through sports.
In her welcoming speech, Deputy Mayor Diána Széles first emphasised that this is not the first time that such a competition has been organised in an educational institution maintained by the Greek Catholic Church. St. László Greek Catholic High School and Technical School is already a traditional venue, and for this, the Archdiocese of Hajdúdorog is to be thanked. These competitions give primary school students the opportunity not only to compare their strengths but also to get to know the host school, its students, its community, the kind of education and upbringing that takes place there, and later to possibly choose one of these schools as the location for their further studies. The Deputy Mayor considered it important to emphasise the goal of the Move Debrecen! Movement is to bring joy, cheerfulness, and happiness to its participants through exercise in the community. Great recognition goes to the institutions participating in the Movement’s school programme, the coordinators working in them, and the physical education teachers who also work with their students in this area, as without them and their students, this Movement could not function so well.
Director of the Debrecen Primary Care and Health Development Institute (Daefi), Csaba Papp, one of the founders of the Move, Debrecen! Movement, said that he had often wondered what makes an Olympian, for example, a tireless fighter. It has been about a decade and a half since the discovery of the hormone irisin, which is produced exclusively in the human body as a result of physical activity. This requires at least half an hour of intensive movement of the large muscles every day. Irisin, when it enters the brain, motivates it; without it, essentially without movement, there is no effective learning, no knowledge, and this is extremely important for students. And with movement, diseases can also be avoided.
The competition was opened by the Director of the Saint Basil Greek Catholic Grammar School, Technical Centre, Vocational School, Technical School and Skills Development School, Marianna Meskó. As she said, “In order to create a programme, you need a good idea, enthusiasm, and good organisers. But for this to become a good programme series that extends to a community, an entire city, it takes passion, faith, and the kind of commitment shown by the founders of the Move, Debrecen! Movement. It is gratifying that St. Basil School can now host this event.”
In addition to the competition, the participants were able to learn about the professions taught at the school, visit the institution’s cafeteria and school kitchen, where, of course, they also got a food tasting, and also had the opportunity to participate in a dance performance held with the students of St. Michael’s Greek Catholic Primary School, the sister institution of St. Basil’s School in Nyíradony.
The “Move with St. Basil!” competition was won by the team of St. Ephrem’s Greek Catholic Kindergarten, Primary School, and Primary Art School, with the second place going to the students of Debrecen’s Fazekas Mihály Primary School and the third place going to the students of Debrecen’s Kazinczy Ferenc Primary School and Primary Art School.
Source and photo credit:debrecen.hu
