Although officially commemorated last month, International Day of University Sport (#LetsIDUS) and European Week of Sport (#BeActive) celebrations continued also into October with the European University Sports Association (EUSA) and several of our member federations organising a range of activities to mark the occasions.

EUSA, in cooperation with local hosts organised two educational events in September: the EUSA-FISU Strategic Dialogue in Budapest, Hungary, and the EUSA-EUG2022 Convention in Lodz, Poland. Apart of the educational events, the 2021 edition of IDUS and EWOS were celebrated by organising and participating in sports activities, including #LetsIDUS #BeActive morning runs and sport climbing. EUSA joined the #HealthyLifestyle4All initiative and its
office staff were present at the Opening of the European Week of Sport in Slovenia, and had an active afternoon in Ljubljana, with a city walk and doing the SLOfit physical health battery testing at the Faculty of Sport at the University of Ljubljana.



Albania
Albanian Federation of University Sport (FSHSU) Volunteering Academy students and representatives of Fan Noli University went for a hike together.
Then, a conference was held with the participation of FSHSU and Fan Noli University representatives, and the President of the Albanian Olympic Committee.



Armenia
On September 20, an event dedicated to the IDUS2021 took place in the sports hall of Yerevan State University. 100 students from 10 universities participated in sport climbing and tug of war tournaments.



Austria
Various sporting events took place in Austria on the occasion of the International University Sports Day, e. g. local academic Tennis Championship in Klagenfurt, University Runs in Graz and Salzburg.The biggest event in the country was the appearance on the annual Sports Day 2021 jointly by Unisport Austria and the University Sports Institute of the University of Vienna.



Belarus
Various sports and mass events were held in the higher education institutions. The 1st Youth Festival was organised by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus together with the Belarusian Association of University Sports and Republican Center of Physical Education and Sports for Pupils and Students. The Festival programme included the competitions in 3x3 Basketball, Chess, and E-sport discipline. The higher education institutions arranged meetings with the champions and medalists of the 2020 Olympic Games.



Belgium
Along with an online promotion, IDUS2021 was celebrated on the occasion of the cycling UCI World Championships that took place in the Flanders region between 19 and 26 September. Around 250 students were active on this event from different university colleges.



Croatia
Sports and educational activities were organized across Croatia:
UniSport Zadar ran the EU-Conexus University Games featuring volleyball, futsal and basketball. There was a hike in Rijeka, followed by relaxation and stretching workshops. Students of UniSport Osijek played a friendly futsal match and practised outdoor fitness. In Zagreb participants played 3x3 basketball, futsal, and chess. All could also try taqball and listen to the educational panel.
UniSport Split organized Regatta Sveti Duje with local and international participation.



Czech Republic
IDUS and EWOS 2021 was promoted during two events in Prague with conferences and workshops during the University Sports EXPO focusing on university students’ dual career possibilities. A tennis tournament was also organized for students and teachers. In total, around 270 participants took part in these events.



Estonia
From 17 to 26 September, Estonian Academic Sports Federation (EASL) coordinated IDUS2021 celebrations with more than 1000 participants from 14 universities all over Estonia. Universities, Students Union, and Sports Clubs organized free trainings, lectures with athletes about nutrition and university sports, relay races, bike trips and other smaller competitions.



France
The French University Sports Federation (FFSU) signed their new partnership with the French brand “Le Coq Sportif”. The brand will furnish sports equipment to the French athletes that will compete in the international university sports events such as the FISU World University Games. Celebrations took place in several regions with various sports activities, conferences and workshops gathering in total more than 5000 participants and 200 universities and high schools with several sports.



Hungary
Students of the Hungarian Academy of Volunteer Leaders helped their university and national sports federation to organize university sports events for IDUS2021. Budapest University of Technology and Economics held a day exclusively focusing on sports. During a 3 days festival, over 20 sport competitions took place while students had free access to try all the facilities and sports.



Germany
The German University Sports Federation (ADH) together with its health care partner Die Techniker hosted the adh-Hochschullauf for the second time to celebrate the IDUS gathering 988 competitors. They had to walk or run as many kilometres and metres of climbing within one hour. The Hessian University of Applied Sciences for Police and Administration came out on top as the 380 runners covered an impressive total of 3,074.42 kilometres and 24,258 metres of climbing.



Italy
While several sport activities involving hundreds of participants were organized at territorial level with the cooperation of University Sport Centres (CUS), the contract attributing the 2025 Winter Universiade was signed in Turin. The Education Program for Sport Instructors for disability people entered its final part and the Research on Dual Career of student athletes in Italian Universities was presented to the Italian Government.



Kosovo
Despite the restrictions imposed because of the Covid19 pandemic, the Kosovo University Sports Federation organized a successful outdoor sportive event with most of the country's universities participating. Students enjoyed 3x3 street basketball games, gymnastics and other sport activities, all in good ambiance with a DJ managing the music.



Montenegro
For IDUS and EWOS, Students Sports Association of Montenegro prepared promotional and sports activities from September 26 to October 9.
In total, two hikes, a Student Cross Country, kayaking, a futsal cup and tennis tournament with participation from all Montenegrin universities were organized.



North Macedonia
On the 20th of September, a FISU Student ambassador conducted an event dedicated to IDUS2021. Around 10 students attended the online zoom session during which they learned more about IDUS, talked about the importance of sport and its positive impact on health. The session was followed by a home workout.

Norway
This year Norway decided to take the celebrations online with a massive digital promotion of the IDUS2021. The Norwegian Association of University Sports and Student Clubs posted content on social media and encouraged students and clubs to share their sport activities. The campaign successfully reached around 8000 participants in total.



Poland
IDUS2021 has been celebrated in Poland by many, including EUGenio, the official mascot of the European Universities Games in Lodz in 2022. EUGenio visited various important locations in Lodz to promote University sport and the Games next year. An event has been promoted online with the tass and challenges for the mascot, also promoted by the university and City of Lodz supporting the event.



Portugal
The Portuguese Academic Federation of University Sport (FADU) had two activities to celebrate the IDUS and the European Sports Week: a padel tournament and a frisbee experimentation session in Aveiro with about 60 participants. After the padel the occasion was taken to make a guided visit to the Student-Athlete’s House, the new space of FADU in Aveiro, and to the presentation of the FADU Academy project.



Russian Federation
Hundreds of events were held across the Russian Federation: sports festivals, competitions, multi-sports demonstrations, challenges, contests, educational and cultural events. More than 55000 participants and 557 universities took part in the IDUS events in more than 50 regions. Ekaterinburg, the host of 2023 FISU World University Games and the central stage of IDUS 2021 celebrations in Russia itself welcomed 2500 participants of the All-Russian University sports festival. Student-athletes from all over the country competed in 14 sports and enjoyed the cultural programme.



Slovakia
The main activities were focused on promotion through social media, with a special competition held among subscribers on Instagram. Also reposting of the stories and post related to the International Day of University Sport and European Week of Sport, inviting students and faculty staff to engage in activities.


 
Slovenia
In Slovenia, apart from the activities of the EUSA office, several other university sports events were held throughout September and October, marking also the start of the new academic year. Among them were conference on dual career in Ljubljana, the night steps run in Maribor and free sports activities in Slovenian university sports centers.



Sweden
There were lots of different activities all around the country. IDUS2021 was the opportunity to invite new students to try sports. While some events proposed beach volleyball matches and slackline practice, Uppsala Academic Rowing Society together with Städa Sverige (Clean up Sweden) cleaned up the local woods around their club houses. A great way to involve their whole association, earning some money to their club and participate in IDUS by getting exercise!



Switzerland
In Switzerland this year the attention is driven towards the Winter Universiade which will be held in Lucerne from 11 December onwards. The starting signal for the Water Relay 2021 was given on the International Day of University Sport in Turin. The fire of the Universiade was lit and the water melted for the Winter Universiade 2021 Lucerne.



Turkey
IDUS and EWOS have been celebrated this year between 20-30 September with social media activities like COLOUR OF IDUS by the students. Students and universities who celebrated the activities, shared them on their social media accounts.



Ukraine
Various sporting events were held throughout Ukraine. Vinnytsia was the center of this year's events where the General Meeting of the Sports Student Union of Ukraine and a physical culture and health event on the occasion of the celebration were held. The highlight of the event was the presentation of locations by sports: basketball, field hockey, boxing, table tennis, hand-to-hand combat, badminton, rhythmic gymnastics, karate, weightlifting, mini-football, bowling, volleyball, etc.



For more information about the initiatives, please see:
https://www.fisu.net/fisu/about-fisu/international-day-of-university-sport
https://sport.ec.europa.eu/week