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A MOONLIT SPORTS-COMMUNICATION CAMP IN
SUBOTICA
8
January, 2008
Photogallery
Official data
 On
14, 15 and 16 of December 2007 association “Club 21” and the
sport and youth affairs Department of the Municipality of
Subotica in the framework of the Moonlight Programme organized
an international and multi-ethnical sports-communication camp
under the title “Cultures, Conflicts and Youth” for children and
youth from Serbia and Hungary in the Kizúr István Primary School
of Subotica. The organization of the camp from the financial
aspect was largely made possible thanks to the contribution of
the “Chance for Stability” Public Foundation from Szeged, where
Association “Club 21” successfully applied for a grant with its
project of the above camp. From 12 clubs and professional
institutions altogether 133 children, youth and adults
participated in the camp. From the guest clubs 40 competitors,
while from the clubs in Subotica 87 competitors took part in the
table tennis, basketball, foosball and darts competitions. The
number of participants and guests at the Saturday night
programme of the Moonlight Clubs are estimated at 150
altogether.
(Ferenc Galacz, teacher, chief organizer of the
sport competitions of the camp)
Overall
evaluation of the accomplishment of objectives
“The 150 participants, mostly children and youth, of five
different nationalities, seemingly differed from one another in
a great deal. They spoke different languages, came from
different social backgrounds, had different customs, were raised
up in different cultural circumstances, but they had one thing
in common they were interested in: the ball! Serbians,
Croatians, Hungarians, Romas, Albanians first played with and
eyeing each other shyly, but curiously, but soon flung
themselves into playing table tennis, basketball and the other
sports and the differences disappeared at once! The kids played
a series of matches in the greatest agreement and harmony,
without any arguments or quarrels. … It was truly good to watch
these different youngsters play together, and we could see
unbelievable things in the meantime! For example, we could see a
well-off Hungarian boy from Szentendre dance break dance with
four tiny, swarthy Serbian Roma mites in the breaks of matches …
The cadet team of the Basketball Sport Club in Szentendre played
a match with the basketball players of the Basketball Club
“Roling” from Veternik. Veternik is a suburb of Novi Sad, and
its residents are Serbian families who have fled from the parts
of Croatia and Bosnia afflicted by the war. The match was played
without a referee, but there was no quarrel whatsoever at all!
Without their parents and adults present there were no conflicts
and no tension between them. At this “sport bash”, which last
until two a.m., we could only see children who wanted to play,
to get to know each other, to make friends and who were having a
great time!
(Dr. Ferenc Kovács,
President of the Basketball Sport Club in
Szentendre)
A sport-educational evaluation with a practical conclusion
“The college students playing basketball, table tennis, foosball
and darts, as well as those who were just present as supporters,
enjoyed themselves so much, and considered the Moonlight
meetings so useful, that I would like the next similar Moonlight
event to be organized at the Hungarian Teacher Training Faculty
of Subotica.”
(Dr. Josip Lepeš, head of department, senior lecturer of
physical education at the Hungarian Teacher Training Faculty of
Subotica, who gave an interesting, inter-active presentation to
the campers about doping in sports)
Sometimes nature rewrites the programme
“The Róka farm expected the camping children with numerous
handicraft workshops. Normally children swarm around these
craftsmen and women like bees around honey. However, what I
really found charming was that handicraft or not, children
rushed out to the freshly fallen snow, and threw themselves with
overwhelming joy into one of the most ancient handicraft –
playing snowball.”
(Mr. István Hulló, biologist, curator of the
Museum of Subotica,
host)
Lessons from multi-culturalism
“We could also witness some characteristic manifestations of the
culture of each different nation and nationality. We could find
out, among other things, that among Roma children no question in
connection with the relationship between the opposite sexes is a
taboo. For example, when we were leaving for dinner a tiny
member of the Roma group from Novi Sad (he was about 5 or 6
years old) asked, if we will be “going out on the pull” after
dinner. His question was a great success.”
(Dezső Kiss, Coordinator of Association “Club 21” in
Subotica)
A particularly witty introduction of the title of the camp
“The
communication
part of the programme outside the championship already began
just as we crossed the country border,
since because we were in a hurry to arrive in time for the
start, we raced along at a 70 km/h speed instead of the allowed
60 km/h, while unfortunately a good-sighted Serbian policeman
took a photo of us. The
conflict
came about due to the fact that we didn’t speak Serbian, while
the policeman, apart from saying 3000 dinars, didn’t understand
any Hungarian. With the help of a phone call, however, we could
settle the matter in a
civilized
way (no wonder, since the police force of the town and its
neighbourhood follows the work of the Moonlight Clubs with
sympathy. Comment by D.K.), and he let us drive on with a
friendly salute. So the car full of
youngsters
could
arrive in time to the
sport camp.”
(Péter
Jakab,
Szentendre, President of the Hungarian Association of Midnight
Championships)
Addiction
prevention specialists protect children from their drug
prevention presentation
“We’ve just been told that we have half an hour left, but we
will finish now. There is a lot left to talk about, but you must
be very hungry by now, and you have to be in a good physical
condition for the competitions in the afternoon and in the
evening. We don’t do drug prevention at the expense of your
winning!”
(Lívia
Tóth-Horti
and
Tünde Ritcz Dencs,
professional staff members of “Expecto”, at 12 a.m.)
The
championship T-shirts were the expression of belonging together
“The supporters of the competitions were quite nice and
friendly, too. Every guest competitor received a T-shirt with
our Moonlight logo on as a present, which was such a success,
that many of the supporters also wanted to get one, even if they
had to pay for them! It’s a great pity that we had no money left
before the camp to order new ones, and our T-shirt reserves have
completely become exhausted.”
(Milan
Torbica,
coordinator of the Moonlight Club in the Jovan Mikić Primary
School)
A
good sense of humour is also part of culture indeed…
“A really cool thing happened at the opening ceremony. It was
part of the programme that all guest clubs introduced
themselves. It all happened as planned, some promoted themselves
with presentations, some with music, films or folk dancing. When
it was our friends’ turn from Szentendre to do it, suddenly
there were sounds of great merriment coming from the audience.
This team was introduced in Hungarian by their leader, Péter
Jakab, while our coordinator, Dezső Kiss was helping convey it
to the audience in Serbian. He was helping – or was he indeed?
He managed to translate Péter Jakab’s first sentences perfectly
into the same language they were originally told in – to
Hungarian. The interpretations was indeed perfect, he did not
repeat the same sentences, but translated them into a kind of
“local” Hungarian using his own words. This accidental – or
perhaps intentional? – mistake was rewarded by a huge ovation by
the audience, while our man continued without a stir of an
eyelid, as if this was part of the scenario, but from now on in
Serbian. This translation at last our guests from Veternik, and
others who spoke Serbian understood too. I truly hope there was
a video recording made of this slip-up, because the methodology
of interpretation could certainly be enriched by it.”
(Tibor Losonc, university student, volunteer of
the Moonlight Club) |
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