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International Pierre de Coubertin Youth Forums

 

International Pierre de Coubertin Youth Forum is an extraordinary and exciting event. It takes place every two years in a different country, with more than 150 participants from 20+ countries involved.

The Forum lasts seven days and is filled with sport, fun, education, and friendship. What I enjoy the most is to meet new people from all over the world in order to learn more about their culture and traditions. Everyone can find new friends; the lucky ones even love. You get to spend a lot of time with foreigners in discussion groups, canteen and outside the events, as you share a room together. What is more, you can stay in touch after the Forum and visit each other.

The event is full of sports activities, such as 100m sprint, swimming, an ancient form of long jump, cross-country race, boccia, and a lot more. You don´t need to be a professional sportsman to enjoy these activities. Moreover, participants expand their skills in a variety of high-quality art workshops.

During the forum, you visit monuments of the specific region and learn a lot about the local history. Another enjoyable activity is the city parade with students from the different nations wearing their traditional costumes. In the end, each country performs a short traditional dance on a public square.

Additionally, every successful participant is awarded the Coubertin Medal. In my opinion, Pierre de Coubertin Forum is a thrilling event and everyone should try to participate.

Adam Aponyi, senior student of the 4-year program

 

  

 

Partnership with Herta Reich Gymnasium und Realgymnasium in Műrzzuschlag

 

The friendship of our grammar school with Herta Reich Gymnasium und Realgymnasium in Műrzzuschlag, has been going on since 1990. Students have often completed short exchanges and have been able to make full use of their language skills thanks to family accommodation. The proof that this partnership is really solid is that the visits have not been interrupted once.

During their visits, students compete in volleyball or football matches. An unforgettable "European" experience for our 50 pupils and 25 teachers was Slovakia's accession to the European Union. The Austrians came to symbolically welcome us to the border at Kitsee. They went approximately 150km long route on bicycles from Műrzzuschlag and we prepared a cultural-historical excursion for them. A few years ago, our Austrian partners showed interest in Slovakia when they completed their "Sportwoche" in Piešťany, which is a similar activity to our KOŽaZ course, which we can translate as “The course of life and health preservation” in the High Tatras, where students go rafting, hiking, enjoying nature and one another’s company. 

We didn't get left behind either... Class 3.C in November 2018 presented the school, the city and the countryside at the "High School Day" in Műrzzuschlag.  Students dressed in traditional Slovak costumes singing the traditional patriotic song "Na Kráľovej Holi" and dancing typical Slovak folk dances. The pupils from Műrzzuschlag was excited and they applauded us. The atmosphere was friendly and we made a lot of new friendships. The Austrians were then offered a visit to Piešťany. Fifteen Austrian students and seven teachers with the headteacher Mag. Heim Hirschmann came to Piešťany in December 2019. They played tournaments in volleyball and skittles against our pupils and teachers. The matches were thrilling and everyone had fun. They also visited the most beautiful places in Piešťany such as the spa resort and the surrounding area. The director introduced his school to the rest of our students at the Christmas Academy on Friday before our Christmas break.

Simona Slabá and Radka Vavruš, senior students of the 4-year program

 

  

 

 

Partnership with school in Baku, Azerbaijan

 

Our school is regularly involved in sport-related activities and EYOF 2019 was not an exception. EYOF 2019 (European youth Olympic festival) was held in Baku, Azerbaijan on 21- 27 July 2019 and a few of our students took part to represent our school.

We were communicating and cooperating with partner school from Baku for half a year, and in the summer, three of us had the chance to fly to Baku and meet them in person. We took a government flight from Bratislava with representatives of the Slovak Olympic Committee and landed in the capital of Azerbaijan- Baku.

As soon as we arrived, we were amazed by the spectacular architecture of the city and we couldn’t wait to get to our hotel. We stayed in Boulevard Hotel on the shore of the Caspian Sea. The view was just perfect! The first day of our stay, we spent mostly exploring the city and admiring local culture. At the end of the day, we joined the opening ceremony where the competing countries were introduced and we also learned more about the history of Azerbaijan.

On the second day, we visited the Olympic village and met the partner school for the first time. I have to say that we were pleasantly surprised by the warm and opened nature of the local people. They were very involved and interested in our culture and were also excited to show and represent their own. We made amazing friendships that we hope will last forever. We also met with our gymnast and representant of Slovakia Barbora Mokošová.

We spent the rest of our stay mostly with the partner school, they invited us to tour their school, for lunch and also took us to a sacred place - The temple of eternal fire.

It was hard to say goodbye to the city we enjoyed that much and I can say we all hope that one day, we will come back and meet with our Azerbaijanis friends again.

Finally, I would like to thank the Slovak Olympic Committee for the chance to visit Azerbaijan, explore its unique culture and meet lovely people.

Vanda Valovičová, junior student of the 4-year program