For the past years the European Universities Sports movement had quite a big development at different levels. At the sports level we have seen an increasing calendar, with more sports, Universities, teams and student athletes involved. At the political and strategic level we have also seen quite a growth, with a bigger recognition of EUSA's activities, and with the project of EUSA Games boosting the visibility of university sports events at the European and International Level. These big achievements bring with them a lot of new responsibilities as the expectation grows up among participating students and Universities.

 

In the past students have been seen by university sports simply as a target audience or as some final consumer of the brand "university sports" and its activities. Thankfully also this narrow view has changed altogether with all the major developments on the European Universities Sports. EUSA was the first continental association to settle a Students Body within it's structure, recognizing not only that students have the right to take part in the structure and it's development, but setting the example on the concept of learning through experience and learning through sports. In fact, we all believe that Universities Sports have a huge role as educational tools for the students all around Europe that are willing to take part on it.

 

EUSA Student Commission (StC) usually uses this column as a space to share student's perspectives, good examples developed by students, or student's personal experiences that are interesting. Being this the first column that is published after the nomination of the new members of the StC, I thought that the best example or experience that should be highlighted should be the Student Commission itself.

 

The StC is made of a lot of personal efforts and commitments. Being a group of students from all around Europe (please see the current composition here) we work daily from our Houses and from our Universities for the European Universities Sports Movement contributing with projects, ideas and fresh new perspectives. Although mostly unknown to the participants and students, we are behind EUSA's volunteer program that aims to provide rich life experiences to students on sport events, we promote a photo competition to raise social media awareness of our events, we take part with the support of EUSA's Executive Committee in Anti-Doping initiatives, we are concerned about our social responsibilities and we have an interesting vision on what we stand for: University Sport for Health, Friendship, and Lifelong Learning (read full text here).

 

This is a work that sometimes it's not seen, but that is felt by everyone that takes part in our Initiatives. What we have and what we are today as a working group within EUSA comes from a lot of contributes and hard work of previews members of the StC. It would be therefore unfair if I did not start my term as Chair of the StC, by thanking all the previous members of the StC that took part in the past challenges we had. Specially to Isabel Collischon, the previous Chairlady, and the members that were part of the last term with me, I would like to send you my congratulations on the work well done! You were a true amazing team that set the bar high. Thank you for everything.

 

What we will achieve in the future it's not only up to us, the members of the StC, but also depends on all you students that are reading this column. We are always looking for new ideas, projects or perspectives. We want you involved in our projects and events. Share your thoughts with us or take part on our initiatives and be a part of our project!

 

The author Bruno Barracosa is the new Chair of the EUSA Student Commission and is a student of Industrial Engineering at the University of Lisbon.

 

Please see What's up! - Monthly Student Column for more articles coming from students from all over Europe!