ISF and Partners Ready to Combine Education and Sport for the 19th ISF Gymnasiade Normandy 2022
With less than 2 weeks to go until the start of the 19th ISF Gymnasiade Normandy 2022 taking place from the 14th - 22nd of May, over 3500 participants from 67 countries are preparing to arrive in Normandy France, with 9 cities, Caen, Deauville, Forêt d’Ecouves, Grandville, Le Havre, Montivilliers, Pont-Audemer, Rouen, and Val-de-Reuil ready to welcome school students from around the world to compete in 20 different sports and engage in a variety of cultural and educational activities.
As is the case with all ISF events, the ISF Gymnasiade Normandy 2022 will not only be focused on sport, taking the opportunity to develop and implement educational activities and programmes throughout the event. These educational activities will be based upon three pillars: the Fun and Skill Zone, the ISF Forum, and ISF Seminars.
The Fun and Skill Zone will be organised from the 16th to 21st May at the heart of the Games, in the International Centre of Deauville (CID). It will focus on learning about sport values through discovering new sports and introductory activities being offered at various different booths located around the Fun and Skill Zone.
This will be the only moment when participants from all delegations will have the opportunity to meet others and interact outside of their sport competitions. This activity is being prepared with ISF partners such as the International Fair Play Committee, the United World Wrestling, Peak, Kinder Joy of Moving, Fédération Internationale de Teqball, and Education First. The various different booths will be dedicated to Olympic Values, Fair Play, Safeguarding of Children in Sport, Laser Run, Frontball, Handi-mobility, wrestling and teqball.
This edition of the ISF Forum will focus on the main topic of “Healthy lifestyle: the Importance and Role of School sport” and will take place on the 18th of May in the CID.
Gathering youth, policy makers and sport leaders the forum will be the occasion to exchange on school sport and the different angles that intergovernmental organisations (Council of Europe, European Commission, Unesco, Confejes), International sport federations (FIBA, UWW, BWF...) and academia, consider the role of school sport when tackling public policies, gender equality, safeguarding of children in sport, sustainable development or developing national policies.
This event is one of the rare opportunities to discuss school sport in an international environment.
Lastly the seminars during the event will be dedicated to two main topics. The first one being the Safeguarding of Children in Sport and the second to the Officials (referees, judges...).
On the 19th and 20th of May from 6 to 8 pm, ISF partners and leaders in their field will be delivering seminars for both youth and adults on this first topic. ISF commitment to this topic is based on the fact that: “We believe that all children have a right to play sport in an environment where they are safe, and their voices can be heard. What is officially recorded regarding children should apply to any stakeholder (volunteer, member, employee, manager…) of our organisation. Our focus is on raising awareness regarding safeguarding and ensuring the implementation of ISF Policy on the playing field level.”
The seminar on the second topic will take place on the 18th of May under the title “NO REF NO SPORT!” and is being organised with the International Federation of Sport officials of which the ISF is a founding member. Patrick Vajda, International Fencing Referee and President of IFSO, and Benjamin Gremion International Ice Hockey Referee, will share with their experiences of sports refereeing at the highest level for 90 minutes. They will explain how to manage the errors, the stress, and disputes encountered during refereeing. These two very experienced sports referees will also answer questions and show that despite their very different sporting origins, the questions they ask themselves, during exercise, are often almost identical.
We are certain that many young officials officiating during this event will be extremely interested in the information shared during this activity.
