Sport — a platform of trust
30 children from both banks of the Nistru River experienced camp life for 10 days during the first edition of “Sportforma Camp”. The Chișinău Arena hosted the tents that turned into a new vacation home for children from different regions.
The camp was organized on 22–31 July by Sport Platform, with the support of the European Union Confidence Building Measures Programme, implemented by UNDP. The Platform brings together several sports associations and clubs from both banks of the Nistru River.
At the camp, the children had the opportunity to try different types of sports: swimming, tennis, volleyball, roller skating, diving, basketball, judo, pentathlon, etc.
“We wanted to get the kids out of their comfort zone. Initially we thought that the camp we were organizing might not be exactly to the children’s liking, especially as we live with the perception that young people nowadays just have their noses in their phones/tablets and spend more of their time sitting at home, comfortably on the sofa.
We were amazed to see the enthusiasm of the children who came here. On the first day of the event, we built a couple of hours into the schedule to set up the tent, but the kids were able to assemble and set up the tent in a quarter of an hour. We were also surprised that they adapted so easily to the camp conditions and enjoyed sleeping in the tent,” says Timur Comlionoc, member of the Sport Platform team.
As well as finding teammates for a particular type of sport and making friends, the children also managed to overcome the language barrier. So, during the camp they played sport and also spoke Romanian, Russian and even English. Mark, a 13-year-old boy from Tighina (Bender), came to Chișinău for his first sports camp.
“This is my first experience, I have never been to a camp before. Why did I choose to come? First of all because I’m passionate about sports, I go swimming, but here every day I tried a new type of sport for 10 days. I also liked the fact that I slept in a tent and made friends. I will definitely remember this experience,” says Mark.
Evelina is 11 years old and has been to summer camps before, but this new experience is new, she says.
“I came to this camp for good memories, for fun, to see what it’s like to sleep in a tent, to see something new. I loved it here the day learning and diving. I have been to other camps before, but there I lived in small houses, here for the first time I lived in a tent,” says Evelina, 11, from Chișinău.
“We wanted these kids in the camp to learn the difference between practising a sport and hobby. Because it often happens that the sport practised by a child is, in fact, the choice of the parents and not necessarily the desire of the child. Here they had the opportunity to try different kinds of sports and to understand not only what they like, but where they can do well, where they can grow their potential and even reach the level of competitive sport,” Timur adds.
During the 10 days the children were guided by four ‘camp leaders’, including Andriana. She has 10 years of experience in organizing such events.
“In the camp the children learn discipline first of all. Some used to think that the time they spend here is to do whatever they want, but they understand that there is an agenda, where they learn to be independent and everything is executed according to a certain schedule,” explains Andriana Briliant.
The European Union and UNDP also support other platforms of professionals on both banks of the Nistru: tourism, environment, culture, education, health.
