Ten very successful OPAP Sports Academies Festivals were carried out towns in around Greece, with the participation of 10.000 children and 13.000 parents and chaperons. In this unique journey, which started in February in Heraklion, Crete and was concluded yesterday in Thessaloniki, OPAP shared the joy of sports with 125 Academies from the Sports Academies Program, in the towns of Xanthi, Ioannina, Larissa, Argos, Katerini, Peristeri, Patra and twice in Athens.
Nine hundred children and 1.200 parents and chaperons took part in the tenth celebration of sport, which was held yesterday, Sunday June 12, at the National Kaftanzogleio Stadium, in Thessaloniki.
The festival was attended by 13 academies from the wider area of Thessaloniki and the prefectures of Florina and Limnos. These are: SC Kanonierides, P. Melas Stavroupolis, Pasaf. Papafeiou, SP Ermis Kalamaria, DAS. Oraiokastrou, Pilaias SU Thessalonikis, Marathon Kalamarias, Poseidon Κalamarias, Keraunos Kolchikou, Ifaistia Limnos, AP. Kilkis Alexandros, M. Alexandros Florinas and Doxa Dramas.
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 participated in teamwork and football skills games, games-courses on nutrition issues and an experiential activity during which they practiced sports as Paralympic athletes. At the same time, parents and chaperons attended 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 Thessaloniki offering valuable advice to children. In particular Vasilis Hatzipanagis, Giannis Giannoulis, Aris Grigoriadis, Kostas Mpaniotis, Giannis Arzoumanidis, Dimitris Tsekeridis, Gremislav Moisiadis and Paschalis Kouloumoglou attended the event.
