EUSA Insider:

Maher Trabelsi

Place of birth: Tunisia
Role:  Volunteer on the European Universities Games 2022
Sport:  Futsal

Published 05 December 2022

Maher Trabelsi is a volunteer from Tunisia. He is supporting the results team for men and women futsal competitions.

What is your occupation?

I am working as a country manager for an organisation called Game founded 20 years ago. We are focusing on street sports and culture in Tunisian. For example, street basketball, 3X3 Basketball, steet football, urban dances, parkour ect. We organise weekly trainings for kids and teenagers. We also train volunteers with some having weekly practice to teach some soft skills to young people and help them develop skills through sports.

We also organise some festival call ''The Finals Game'' where we bring all our members together and there are some tournaments. The Game is present in more than 10 countries: Danemark, Tunisia, Libania, Jordania, Ghana, Somalia, Norway, Germany, etc.

Did you already take part in EUSA events before or is it your first time?

Yes it is the first time. I just heard about EUSA around one month before the start of the event through social media and I decided to try the experience and join as a volunteer. I am really glad I did it and I am happy to be here in Lodz.

In your eyes of an experienced person working in sport, in what way are the EUG2022 different from the other sport event who have been to before?

The European Universities Games 2022 is definitely a big event and it seems to get bigger and bigger each year from what I saw. It brings 20 sports together which is huge and amazing.The difference also with the sports events organised by Game is that it is university students from a lot of different countries.

Were there some challenges for you in your volunteering experience in the EUG2022?

For me everything was smooth. The team supporting the volunteers was very nice and made the life of everyone easier. Even the athletes and the teams I intereacted with, were very helpful. I saw everyone smilling even for the teams who lost their game. It is though game sometimes for some teams but in the end they seem all happy.

Which would be your favorite moment in the EUG2022?

The opening ceremony was really nice. It was great to see everyone coming to the same place. Otherwise, during the futsal games I got to see very good sport moments and great games that were enjoyable to watch.

to volunteers like you?

What is your message for someone who is still hesitating to volunteer at sports events?

For me volunteering is the best experience one can have. I have been volunteering for more than 20 years in different youth events. You can meet new people and expand your network. It gave me the oppotunity to travel in around 40 different countries around the world and I to learn more about different cultures. It is also a great opportunity to aquire and develop new skill as well as discovering new sports.

I strongly suggest to all young people to try volunteering to go out of their comfort zone and try something new!