About sports in Slovenia

About sports in Slovenia

I was looking for a project with a theme for a long time, to which I would at least have a relationship, so I was excited when I saw the name red card for social exclusion and read in the info pack that it is a project aimed at using sport to solve social problems. However, I was even more excited when I learned that I was given the opportunity to go on a trip to the Slovenian town of Rakičan with three classmates and experience this project first-hand.

Along the way, we picked up two more partners and one party with whom we formed a Slovak expedition and together we arrived at the beautiful historic complex Dvorec Rakičan, where the project took place. The surroundings of our accommodation were created for relaxation but also fun with friends from Lithuania, Croatia and Italy, with whom we built a great game after the initial sightseeing activities.

In the introductory lectures, the leaders of the program introduced us to the issue of social separation, later we had the opportunity to be more realized and created through activities in which we had the opportunity to present our ideas and solutions to real problems. The program of the second evening belonged to the international dinner, where we tasted the traditional dishes and drinks of the countries of all participants and proudly offered our Slovak ones to others.

As part of the program, we also visited the local Roma settlement, where we learned how minority groups can be effectively integrated into society through sports. We even played a match with the local football club, but despite the great efforts of the elite team of players of our project, we did not have a chance and got a proper debacle:) By the way, we got to this settlement on a siding pulled by a tractor. We used this method of transport quite often and it was definitely one of the highlights of the whole week 🙂

We filled our free time by relaxing in a large park right next to the residence where we were accommodated and which was created to disconnect from all the world’s problems. Sometimes we went on semi-dilapidated bikes with defects to the city or to a nearby lake, where we also had the opportunity to try paddleboarding.

After such a great week, it was really hard for us to say goodbye to our friends, but we knew that we would take home beautiful memories and they will be the motivation to take every opportunity to travel somewhere again.

Martin Lonsky