Debrecen4U March 26, 2025

Sports event was organised for the first time for 2nd graders

In the framework of a playful athletics competition, teams of 2nd-grade students from elementary schools participating in the “Move, Debrecen!” initiative’s school program met each other at the event “Move with Saint Ephrem!” on March 25, 2025.

The competition was organised by the Saint Ephrem Greek Catholic Kindergarten, Primary School and Elementary Art School, which are under the maintenance of the Archdiocese of Hajdúdorog. The event was organised in two groups of four, with a total of 7 primary schools, Bolyai János Primary School and Primary Art School of Debrecen, Karácsony Sándor Primary School of Debrecen, Kinizsi Pál Primary School of Debrecen, Saint Ephrem Greek Catholic Nursery, Primary and Primary School (A and B teams), Primary School of the Reformed College of Debrecen, Szoboszlói Road Primary School and Epreskert Primary School, with teams of 6-8 pupils participating.

The competition’s aim was to provide the opportunity to compete and play and to provide a sense of success for the 2nd grade students of primary schools participating in the “Move, Debrecen!” initiative’s school programme who do not participate in classical sports activities.

The young students and their companions were greeted by the Director of the host, Saint Ephrem Greek Catholic Kindergarten, Primary School, and Primary Art School, Péter Vas. Before that, the Spiritual Director of the school, Miklós Sivadó, among other things, drew attention to the fact that the event was being held on a church holiday, the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

According to Deputy Mayor Diána Széles, the goal of the “Move, Debrecen!” initiative and the school programme is to make the participants in the physical activity programmes happy, because the organisers believe that physical activity brings happiness. Another important component of this event was the cheerfulness and the fact that the participants competed for their own school.

On behalf of “Move, Debrecen!” Diána Széles thanked the coordinators of the initiative’s school programme for bringing the children to this competition. She also expressed special thanks and presented a gift to physical educator, András Krizsai, who came up with the idea, and to teacher, dr. István Pálné Seszták, Head of the Education Office of the Archdiocese of Hajdúdorog, Éva Czövek, Director of Saint Ephrem School, Péter Vas, Deputy Director, Tímea Bodnárné Tőkészki, Spiritual Director, Miklós Sivadó, and Deputy Director, Sándorné Barna.

Head of the Education Office of the Archdiocese of Hajdúdorog, Éva Czövek spoke in her welcoming speech about the fact that humans were created to learn to move in a cheerful and energetic way, to climb trees and rocks, to run, to swim, to do anything that makes them feel good. The programmes of the “Move, Debrecen!” initiative also teach children to enjoy the joy of play.

In connection with the event, Diána Széles also said that due to today’s urban living conditions, which are also clearly shown by the results of school health screenings, children exercise very little.

The aim of launching the “Move, Debrecen!” initiative’s school programme was to get children moving through extracurricular activities who, for example, do not regularly exercise in sports clubs. The “Move, Debrecen!” initiative’s school programme is currently present in 40 schools, and 1,500 children who are not certified athletes exercise in their activities weekly. With these exercise programmes, the proportion of children struggling with movement problems could be reduced by 1 percent in one year, which may seem small but is a great achievement in such a short time. Diána Széles highlighted that the school programme has an event where different age groups are addressed practically every week. However, the current “Move with Saint Ephrem!” event, organised for 2nd graders, is the first of its kind because no contest has been organised for such young children within the framework of the “Move, Debrecen!” initiative’s school programme. According to the Deputy Mayor, it is clear that the children are very excited, they really want to prove themselves, and while competing, they also pay attention to each other, their community develops, and they get to know other peer communities,  and all of this is already an excellent experience for them. They are looking forward to the next similar opportunity. Diána Széles believes this is an effective way to introduce the love of movement into children’s everyday lives.

Source and photo credit:debrecen.hu