ENGSO and ENGSO Youth held successful General Assembly, Member Seminar and Youth Assembly in Hersonissos, Crete, Greece from 12-14th of May.

The ENGSO General Assembly, began with EQUIP Seminar on equality, inclusion and disability, hosted and organised by the Hellenic Paralympic Committee and ENGSO EWS Committee.

The seminar involved a interesting panel discussion and empowering words about sport, inclusion and equal opportunities. 

Mr Stefan Bergh, opened the seminar with his welcoming words, thanking the present and the hosts for organising and attending this General Assembly. His words were followed by a short presentation and overview of the EQUIP Project, given by Ms Floriane Poncet.

Next on the agenda, was a panel discussion with two para-athletes, led by Ms Jen Browning. Ms Evanthia Bournia, a Para Table Tennis athlete and Mr Andreas Katsaros, para-swimmer, shared their stories of empowerment through sport, the community of para sports, life lessons, increasing visibility of sport for people with disabilities and being a role model. 

This amazing panel was followed by the workshop on Equality, Inclusion and Disability, facilitated by Mr Sakis Kostaris, Managing Director at the Hellenic Paralympic Committee. He introduced the Hellenic Paralympic Committee, it’s main fields of work, their advocacy work, their role in the development of paralympic sport in Greece and a short overview of their most important milestones.

The official opening of the General Assembly then took place in the afternoon with ENGSO President Mr Stefan Bergh, Greek Deputy Minister of Sport Mr Lefteris Avgenakis, Deputy Regional Governor of Crete Mr Giorgos Pitsoulis and President of Hellenic Paralympic Committee Mr Georgios Kapellakis welcoming the participants to Crete, Greece, and expressing the support for the organised grassroots sport movement in Europe.

The event continued with the ENGSO Member seminar, with the first part including a presentation of the report from the recent member survey and a workshop with ENGSO members to collect feedback on the new ENGSO Policy programme, conitnued by a fruitfull group discussions. 

Day one concluded with the Chair of EWS Committee Ms Sallie Baker introducing the position paper on equality, and member of the EU Advisory Committee Ms Julie Ravlo presenting the White paper on sustainability.

The second day of ENGSO and ENGSO Youth General Assembly was started with Mr Stefan Bergh, President of ENGSO and Ms Floor Van Houdt, Head of the Sport Unit of the European Commission, giving an overview of the Covid 19 situation and the impact that it had to sport in Sweden, as well as talking about matters regarding crisis resilience and EU sport policy. 

Before the group discussions started, Ms Elisabeth Strobach presented the recommendations from ENGSO involving: access to resources and support for grassroot sports, funds allocated to grassroots, involved stakeholders, as well as support system for member states and lessons learnt.

In continuation the group had a round of discussions on the lessons learnt, ideas on missing recommendations, as well as suggestions for resources that can be added to the recommendations document made on behalf of ENGSO.

The last session before the General Assembly, was led and presented by Mr Daniel Molterer from the Austrian Agency for Education and Internationalisation, who spoke about opportunities for national funding for Sport Mobility – Erasmus+.

ENGSO General Assembly began in the afternoon on Saturday, 13 May 2023, with the overview of 2022 activities, reports and presentations from the Committees (ENGSO Youth, Equality Within Sport EWS and EU Advisory Committee), followed by the presentation of the 2024-27 Strategy, the Policy programme and the joining of a new ENGSO Member – the European Paralympic Committee. 

Following on the programme of ENGSO General Assembly was the election of the Presidency and the Executive Committee Members for 2023-2027. Mr Stefan Bergh was re-elected as President of ENGSO, together with the new Vice- President Ms Filipa Godinho (POR) and the Executive Committee Members: Ms Romana Caput (CRO) , Mr Pierre-Louis Magnani (FRA) , Ms Anna-Maria Wiesner (AUS), Mr Filip Filipic (SRB), Mr Theo Neyenhuis (NED) and Mr Gyarfas Olah (HUN).

They join Secretary General Ms Sara Massini and Mr Magnus Sverdrup whose mandate runs until 2025, ENGSO Youth Chair Ms Ugnė Chmeliauskaitė and EWS Chair Ms Sallie Baker.

The General Assembly of ENGSO was followed by the Youth Assembly of ENGSO Youth. The ENGSO Youth General Assembly was consisted of an overview of activities and actions for 2022, achievements, new ideas and projects, as well as presentations, voting and elections of ENGSO Youth Committee and Chair and Vice-Chair for 2023-2025.

On the position of Chair of ENGSO Youth, Ms Ugne Chmeliauskaite was re-elected, along with a new Vice-Chair Mr Erik Van Haaren (NED). As members of the ENGSO Youth Committee voted were: Ms Alessia De Iulis (ITA), Ms Isaiah Koiloglou (GRE), Mr Luca Frederic Wernert (GER), Ms Marija Leskovec (CRO), Ms Mirjana Ivkovic (SRB), Ms Saga Yli-Hannuksela (FIN) and Mr Valentin Doupona (AUT).

For more information about ENGSO and ENGSO Youth, please see www.engso.eu  and www.engsoyouth.eu