An excellent press conference organized by Olympiacos
during the kick-off meeting of You’re Hope project. The participants had the
opportunity to answer the questions of journalists and present the overall
concept of the project. Olympiacos received very positive comments not only for
its hospitality but also for the general contribution to the implementation of
European projects.
The General Secretary of Olympiacos and Project
Coordinator, Christina Tsiligkiri stated: ‘’I am very happy to be here with
excellent partners and colleagues in this project. You’re Hope is a project
that aims to the promotion of sports as the appropriate means for the social
integration of refugees. We all know that our city has hosted a large number of
refugees in the port since 2015. This project pursues to sensitize the local
community of Piraeus and offer pleasant moments to these people. Olympiacos is
the main coordinator of the project in cooperation with Levski-Sport for all,
Aalborg and EMCA, the European Association in which our club is a member since
2013. The most important actions are the research about the sport preferences
of the refugees and the organization of multisport activities for them.’’
The General Secretary of Levski-Sport for all and
President of EMCA, Vanina Milanova mentioned: ‘’We are very happy to be hosted
by the heart of the Greek sport, in the headquarters of Olympiacos. We are here
with the President of Levski. Our organization has more than 45 sports and more
than 300 medals. As the leading European multisport clubs, have the
responsibility to promote the integration of the refugees. As Levski- Sport for
all, we can learn a lot from Olympiacos. This club has a great tradition in
projects related to refugees. We also have the support of an important
international organization such as UNESCO which we met today and hope that our
national refugees associations will also succeed to show the sun to these young
people. I would like to thank Olympiacos to become partners of this project.’’
The Vice-President of Societa Sportiva Lazio and
General Secretary of EMCA, Federico Eichberg said: ‘’I would like to thank
Olympiacos for this welcoming today. Today, we understood why Olympiacos is in
the heart of the Greek and European multisport movement. Olympiacos is the main
coordinator of this European project. It is a big responsibility in safe hands.
We recognize the fact that Olympiacos is one of the first clubs in our European
Multisport Association, every year carries out a European project and for the
first time, as a coordinator. We also recognized the excellent and
indispensable role that Greece has played in the welcoming of refugees during
these years by showing the best heart of Europe. Moreover, Olympiacos achieved
to put together governmental and non-governmental institutions that do
wonderful jobs and could assist our work. Today, the three clubs, the
Association and the partners agreed to run the programme together and so, I
would to thank Christina for that. Today, we also had the honour of being part
of the memorial service of Gate Seven that took place in the premises of the
stadium and brought together many passionate athletes, trainers and supporters
with the spirit of the family, the brotherhood. This could be an inspiration
for our Association.’’
Questions:
Q1: The fans are wondering what the main objective of the
project is and what kind of activities could include?
Christina Tsiligkiri underpinned: ‘’We chose to focus
on the refugees which are unaccompanied. This is a small collaborative
partnership so we don’t have the time to focus on more different groups. Having
the assistance of the organization ‘’ARSIS’’, we decided to approach the young
unaccompanied refugees that are in Sxisto and other hotspots in Attica. The
programme has three different phases. First of all, until May we proceed with
the collection of data related to the sport preferences of these children. The second
one includes the education of trainers via a webseminar and the third one
concerns the multisport days for refugees based on their preferences. I Hope
that in the future, we will have the opportunity for a further implementation
of projects related to the social inclusion of refugees. Our Association has
submitted many projects in European Union and hope that we will have the
opportunity to develop more initiatives for refugees.’’
Federico Eichberg mentioned: ‘’I would like to add two
things about the target. The first one is to let young refugees experience the
beauty of sport. The second one is our community. It is an important message to
give to our community to welcome these people and encourage them to become an important
part of our society.’’
Q2: Could this project also encourage the participation of
fans who would like to engage with the rehabilitation of the refugees? Maybe it
could be a good opportunity for fans to come next to club and these people and
feel that contribute to social work.
Vanina Milanova stated: ‘’We believe that our
supporters could help the refugees too. We are planning to organize many
multisport activities in September. On the one hand, this requires the
participation of trainers and athletes and on the other hand, that of the
supporters. The multisport clubs participated in this programme have good
tradition of supporting people in difficult situation. During the last thirty
years, our supporters organize different activities for children of poor
families that need help.’’
Federico Eichberg said: ‘’Absolutely. The first project that we
participated was the ‘’Sport and Support’’. Our clubs promoted sports and
encouraged supporters to support not only the team but also the community.’’
After the end of the press conference, the participants
exchanged gifts and thanked Olympiacos for the excellent welcoming and
hospitality.
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