The seventh big sports celebration, under the framework of OPAP Sports Academies program, was held with great success and the participation of 680 children and 1.200 parents and chaperons in Panireirotiko Stadium of Ioannina on Sunday, April 17th
The festival was attended by 9 academies from the wider area of the municipalities of Ioannina, Preveza, Arta, Thesprotia, Corfu, Lefkada, Aitoloakarnania and Agrinio: Thyella Eleoysas, Ethnikos Filippiadas, Anagennisi Artas, Ladochoriou PAS Igoumenitsas, Olympus Corfu, ΑΟTilykratis 2014 Lefkados, Amvrakikos Vonitsas Aitoloakarnanias, AE Prevezis and PAS Elpides Agriniou. Furthermore, the corporation The Ark of the World was present in the Festival with a team.
In accordance with the philosophy and values of the Sports Academies program, all activities during the festivals focus in the most enjoyable of ways on the values that make up the athletic ideal, especially fair play, respect, ethics and teamwork. The young athletes participate in teamwork and football skills games, games-courses on nutrition issues and an experiential activity during which they practice sports as Paralympic athletes. At the same time, parents and chaperons attend seminars and speeches by the members of the specialized scientific team of the program on psychology, nutrition and first aid issues.
A team of sports ambassadors from Olympic and Paralympic sports with significant distinctions for their ethos, respect towards their co-athletes and fair play attended the Festival in Argos offering valuable advice to the children. In particular, the event was attended by: Kostas Tsanas, Amalia Tsiavou, Nicholaos Vlachos, Konstantinos Vardakas, Konstantinos Mantzios, Tasos Mpaos, Anthi Liagkou, Chris Tsiouris.
OPAP organizes big sports festivals in ten cities around Greece. During the first seven festivals in Heraklion, Patras, Athens, Larissa, Katerini, Argos and Ioannina OPAP has shared the joy of sports with 5.530 children and 8.850 parents and chaperons. The OPAP Sports Academies Festival's journey continues in Xanthi, Athens and Thessaloniki.
