Our biannual charity and sporting event called "Sport Unites" took place on Thursday afternoon, 10 October 2024. The event, which our faculty organizes every spring and autumn on its campus in Veleslavín, Prague, expresses support for various activities, events and specific people through movement.
The aim of the sixth edition was to cover the distance of 2,000 kilometres together and to support and raise awareness of the Journey towards a Dream project. This project creates opportunities not only for people with disabilities to participate in sporting activities. It gives a helping hand to everyone who wants to play sport and live an active life. This time, people with and without disabilities met together on the track.
In the registration tent, anyone who wanted to participate borrowed a chip and covered the distance of their choice on the athletics oval. In four hours, more than 200 participants collectively managed to run, walk or jog 1,470 kilometres. Among them were not only students, employees and graduates of our and other faculties of Charles University, but also families with children and seniors. Two participants surpassed 30 kilometres and 14 people ran or walked more than 20 kilometres.
There were also students of FTVS UK who represented us this year at the Olympic Games in Paris – Zosia Burská, Amálie Švábíková, Anna Šantrůčková, Michaela Hrubá and Eduard Kubelík. Short speeches at the starting line were also made by the Vice-Rector of Charles University Markéta Martínková, Dean Miroslav Petr, Vice-Dean Lenka Henebergová and the director of the Journey towards a Dream project Heřman Volf.
The whole program, which lasted from 14:00 to 18:00, was enriched with demonstrations of the Youfo leisure game, a station for children of the organization Kroužky. Participants of the event could also try out the simulators designed for people with physical disabilities. Faculty students prepared a bazaar of sports clothing and equipment. The participants could learn about the activities of the SUPPORTER project, which promotes gender equality in sport. "The event was a good opportunity to introduce the topic of gender equality and the project, which we are part of, to all participants. We provoked spontaneous discussions and reflection not only on gender inequalities, but also on the pervasiveness of inequalities in different phases of life and sport", said Veronika Nürnberger, University Ombudsperson Liaison at FTVS UK. You can find out more about the project and our involvement on the project website or our faculty website.
Many thanks to all participants, organizers and traditional partners, which were Decathlon, KPMG and Mattoni. And we are looking forward to spring 2025!
You can also read Jan Velinger's event report in the English version of the UK FORUM magazine.
Many thanks to Vladimír Šigut and Michael Neumann for the photos.
Our event also appeared on Thursday evening in the sports section of Czech Television News.
