Tobiasz Nowacki, member of the EUSA Student Commission, was a participant at this year’s FISU Volunteer Leaders Academy and shares his experiences from Kazan for this month's students column.

The FISU Volunteer Leaders Academy 2019 was the third edition of this event. As in previous years, the place of accommodation was the Volga Youth Center near the city of Kazan. The training is dedicated to volunteers and volundeer leaders from around the world working every day in their countries with university sports associations.

On the first day we were divided into groups in which we worked all week. Each group focused on one of next year’s University World Championships. I had the honour to lead one of the panels regarding the organisation of the WUC. A big thank you to Mr Fernando Parente from the FISU Executive Committee who offered me the chance to share my experiences ... the opportunity to share on the forum with such a great group of people was a considerable distinction.



The obligatory part of the day was working in the groups and training with Tatiana, whose experience working with volunteers is really impressive. She worked in a group managing the volunteer programme during events such as the World Cup in 2018, the Olympics in Sochi and this year’s Universiade in Italy. By showing us ways to manage, recruit and motivate volunteers, our work will certainly be easier in the future. Physical activity was also a part of every day. The organisers made sure that we were not bored and prepared a number of attractions and the opportunity to partake in many physical activities.



There was also a short visit to Kazan and a city tour. Both on the last and the penultimate days we were able to see the facilities where the Universiade was organised in 2013. We also visited the Kremlin and the Volga and Kazanka rivers. On the last day after the morning presentations of our projects, it was time for the Closing Ceremony and presentation of the certificates of FISU Ambassadors 2019-2020. The certificates were given by none other than Mr Oleg Matytsin, the current president of FISU. 



Of course, as it happens in our sports-university family, the event was crowned with a cultural farewell party at the top of the glass pyramid with a view of the entire city. We said goodbye and with tears in our eyes we promised ourselves that we would meet in the future. I hope we will have the opportunity to meet each of the new family members we created in their hometowns soon. See you! 

Tobiasz is a student of Slavic philology at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, is a member of the EUSA Student Commission and was the Sport Director of the 2019 European Universities Basketball Championship in Poznan.

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