The Polish Student Sport Association has been doing their bit to assist their local communities affected by COVID-19 in various ways.

Activities in Poland, like the rest of the world, were brought to a halt amid the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, with all sporting activities placed on hold and all educational institutions closed down.

Despite this, several AZS members used several creative means to assist those in need by contributing their time, food parcels, money and equipment across the country.

In the south western town of Lubin, AZS speed skaters Natalia Czerwonka and Andzelika Wojcik have been assisting the senior members of their community by delivering food to their homes, helping with household chores and walking their dogs. 

In addition, they started collecting leftovers from the seniors’ homes to share with a local animal shelter while also encouraging others to donate to a local orphanage, who then proceeded to buy stationery for the children, helping to keep them entertained and express themselves creatively during the lockdown.



Dominik Malys from AZS Lublin used an unconventional approach to collect money for a Lublin hospital by organising a flash mob, calling for interested participants to jog, march or run on their treadmills at home while gathering together online. Donations were received from more than 150 participants, with the event streamed live on the AZS Lublin University Club channel.

Polish hammer thrower Karolina Urban, a member of AZS Gdansk Club, has also been helping seniors from a local organisation, dividing her free time between training and Caritas. 

AZS sports club chair Przemyslaw Jagielski has been making an immense contribution from Lodz, the city which will be hosting the sixth edition of the European Universities Games. He helped jumpstart a national initiative Meals on Call to provide food and beverages for medical workers at local hospitals, helping coordinate between caters and couriers to deliver to 17 infectious hospitals, hospital emergency wards and laboratories under his watch, with between 300-400 deliveries made each day. Przemyslaw even used his back garden as the logistical centre of Lodz to coordinate the deliveries on a daily basis.



From the capital city Warsaw, the Polish Student Sport Association headquarters sent a consignment of branded masks to their local offices as a way to showcase AZS’s sense of community and to encourage their members to follow quarantine requirements.

Over and above this, AZS sports complexes in Gorki, Wilkasy and Wroclaw have been transformed into catering bases to provide meals for doctors and house medical staff who are unable to join their families during the pandemic.