The second edition of the EUSA-FISU Seminar took place in the beautiful Val di Zoldo, Italy, from March 23-26. The event was attended mostly by secretary generals and office staff of the National Universities Sports Association from Europe, as well as European University Sports Association (EUSA) and International University Sports Federation (FISU) representatives.

On March 23rd, participants arrived and the first part of the seminar was held in Hotel Valgranda.The Education and Development Manager of EUSA, Ms Sara Rozman, was the responsible of moderating the introductions and wrappings on each part of the seminar. In the very beginning, the first Vice-President of EUSA, Mr Haris Pavletic had the opening address, greeting the present attendees and wishing them a sucessful seminar.

The acting president of FISU, Mr Leonz Eder also shared his opening words through a video message and welcomed the attendees.

Next on the agenda was the What's Up EUSA which was led by the Secretary General of EUSA, Mr Matjaz Pecovnik. Various topics in relation to EUSA Sport and Educational Events, meetings, projects and other activities were presented. A message of spending quality and fruitful time together and optimism for the future was given.

After a short coffee break, the Whats's Up FISU started and was presented by the FISU Development & Campus Director, Mr Fernando Parente, and the FISU Development & NUSF Relations Manager, Mr Tarmo Jaakson. They presented the FISU upcoming events, their strategy, their programmes and the healthy campus among others. To finalise the day, all participants had dinner in Hotel Valgranda.

On March 24th the programme continued in Fusine Conference Hall, having as the first activity of the day the Panel Discussion: EUSA Games 2022 – lessons learnt. Ms Natasa Jankovic, consultant at EUSA, moderated the panel in which the first Vice-President of EUSA, Mr Haris Pavletic, the International Relations of the Norwegian Association of University Sports, Ms Yngvild Larsen Schei, the European Universities Games (EUG) 2022 Consultant, Mr Tomasz Aftanski, and the Secretary General of the Croatian Academic Sports Federation, Mr Nikola Vincetic, were the speakers.

Plenty of topics and ideas were discussed around the EUG 2022 like its evolution, the challenges, how difficult it is to promote the university sport, the legacy of the event and some advice for future organisers. 

Right after it, a lecture regarding the legacy of sports events with a focus on the World Universities Games in Lucerne, was given by the Swiss University Sports President, Mr Mike Kurt. He remarked that legacy should always come first when organising a sporting event.

Following on the agenda, the EUSA Sports Manager, Mr Miha Zvan, presented some statistics from previous EUSA events, an overview of the future EUSA events, EUSA endorsed events and new initiatives. 

Next to speak and present was Mr Juan Carlos Holgado, FISU Sports Director, who gave an overview of the future and previous FISU events and explained the FISU sports policy.

The program then continued with the second Panel Discussion on Sustainable Sports Events which was moderated by the Academic Sports Organisation of Zurich Director, Mr Lorenz Ursprung. The speakers were the FISU Sports Director, Mr Juan Carlos Holgado, the Vice-President of EUSA, Mr Aitor Canibe Sanchez, and the Snow & Beach Volleyball Coordinator of the European Volleyball Confederation (CEV), Mr Daniel Horvath. Green Sports Hub Europe (GSHE) was one of the initiatives, highlighted as a good practice examples, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.

Different topics like the FISU sustainability strategy, the sustainability of sports events from the environmental, social and economic perspectives, and the Green Sports Hub Europe project were presented and discussed. 

The EUSA Goes Winter was the last presentation of the day, and the Secretary General of EUSA, Mr Matjaz Pecovnik, introduced the event with a short speech in Val di Zoldo. The President of CUS Venezia, Mr Massimo Zanotto, had some additional presentation regarding the first edition of the European Universities Winter Championships which is going to take place in December 2023. 

The present attendees were greeted by the Mayor of Val di Zoldo, Mr Camillo de Pellegrin, as well as by Ms Marzia Balestra, President of Val di Zoldo Tourism Consortium, Ms Silvia Sartor on behalf of Mr Antonio Siracusa from Val di Zoldo Funivie and Mr Gianni Nobile, representing ProDolomiti. The day was then wrapped up with some ice-cream tasting and the official dinner. 

During the morning on March 25th,  all participants split up in two groups, doing two different #BeActive sport activities. One group had the chance to do alpine skiing and enjoy the skiing routes. 

The other group had a great  snowshoeing hike and enjoyed the views to the top.

The first topic of the presentations was about Winter University Sports Events. The FISU Winter Games Sports Manager, Ms Paola Matringe, presented the FISU World University Games Winter, and talked about Lake Placid 2023 and Torino 2025.

The Sports Coordinator of the University Sports Association of Poland, Mr Piotr Żebrowski, and the AZS Warsawa Director, Mr Rafal Jachimiak, presented the winter sports competitions organised by AZS. 

Presenting about the National Universitis Winter Championship was the President of CUS Venezia and representative of FederCUSI, Mr Massimo Zanotto.

After a short coffee break, more presentations about new initiatives started. The FISU Winter Games Sports Manager, Ms Paola Matringe, talked about Ski Orienteering & Ski mountaineering while the FISU Sports Director, Mr Juan Carlos Holgado, talked about the sports of Padel, Jiu-Jitsu, Flying Disc, Dodgeball, Kickboxing and Functional Fitness. 

Presenting a relatively new sport Snow Volleyball, was the Snow & Beach Volleyball Coordinator of the European Volleyball Confederation (CEV), Mr Daniel Horvath.

The final presentation was given by  EUSA Communications and Projects Manager, Mr Andrej Pisl, who presented the Brand Value Alignment through Dual Career (BRAVA) project. 

The program of the seminar was wrapped up with the speeches of the Secretary General of EUSA, Mr Matjaz Pecovnik, the President of EUSA, Mr Adam Roczek and the 1st Vice President of EUSA, Mr Haris Pavletic. 

They all thanked the attendees for the participation and advocated for future and stronger collaborations.
The event was supported by the International University Sports Federation (FISU) and co-financed by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.