THE EXHIBITION ENTITLED "FROM PARIS TO PARIS", DEDICATED TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES, WAS OPENED AT VFU "CHERNORIZETS HRABAR"
10 July 2024
Today, at Varna Free University "Chernorizets Hrabar" the Secretary General of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee Belcho Goranov, Milena Sirakova, Director of the Regional Council of the Bulgarian Red Cross - Varna, and Assoc. Prof. Eleonora Tankova, PhD, Deputy Rector of Varna Free University "Chernorizets Hrabar", opened the training of coaches under the "Sports Coach+" project. More than 30 coaches from 11 sports from Varna and the region, who work with refugees and children and youth at risk, participated in today's training.
Before the start of the traing at the university, a photo exhibition entitled "From Paris to Paris" was opened. It was dedicated to the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in the French capital. The exhibition "From Paris to Paris", dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the recognition of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee by the International Olympic Committee, as well as to the Olympic Games starting in a few days in the French capital. VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar" is the second home of the "From Paris to Paris" exhibition. It contains 13 boards that will remain permanently at the university. On the eve of the Olympic Games, the exhibition will be displayed in the Central Lobby.
During the opening, Belcho Goranov recalled that Varna is an iconic city - in 1973, the sea capital hosted the International Olympic Committee congress.
The subject of Olympism has many points of intersection with education, commented Assoc. Prof.Tankova. "I sincerely hope that this partnership, which we are starting today, will be long-term and very successful - our students and our society need inspiring, good examples", she added.
Milena Sirakova thanked for the wonderful environment in which the training of the first psychological support coaches will take place. A large part of the people who sought protection in Bulgaria are talented children. It is important for us to be able to support them both through their sports coaches and to develop their abilities. The BRC implements many programmes to support the refugee community, Sirakova pointed out.
The training project "Sports Coach+" was led by Tolga Mehmedov and Desislava Yaneva from the BRC.
At the invitation of the Olympic Refuge Foundation (ORF), in December 2023 BOC joined the project "SportCoach+”, which will be implemented jointly by the Olympic Foundation for Refugees and the Psychosocial Centre of the International Federation of the Red Cross. In addition to Bulgaria, partners in the project through the Bulgarian Olympic Committee and the Bulgarian Red Cross are Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Moldova, Germany, Ukraine and Slovakia. In his speech to the participants of the Global Forum on Refugees, which took place in Geneva from 13 to 15 December 2023, IOC President Thomas Bach expressed his gratitude to the eight countries that support this important initiative for the Committee, through which they join The Joint Pledge on Sport for Inclusion and Protection, supported by many other countries and organizations.
