In 2011, EUSA hosted for the first time an intern in its head office in Ljubljana. Valentin who has since been participating to all editions of the Games and who is now a Commission member at EUSA remembers, “even though it was all new for EUSA and not part of a structured scheme, I have been very well taken care of and welcome. It has been a great learning experience for me and I’m very glad I’m still given the chance to be part of the EUSA family.”

Since then, the EUSA office has always been a welcoming place for young people involved in the field of sport, willing to learn and develop new competences in a safe and friendly environment.
EUSA’s ambition to participate in the education of young people took a new turn two years ago when it first became an accredited European Voluntary Service (EVS) organisation. EVS is a European-funded scheme under the Erasmus+ programme that allows young people from 18 to 30 years old to volunteer in an organisation in another country for a period from 2 months to one year.

Niels, Anna, Romain, Loic, Anett from Germany, Hungary and France have been the lucky ones experiencing the programme in the past three years and all of them are very positive about their time in EUSA. Anett has been the third generation of EVS at EUSA and is finishing her year soon. “This was probably the biggest opportunity so far in my career and I am really grateful for all the support what I have received from EUSA during this year, I am incredibly proud to be a part of this family” Anett says.

In addition, FISU has been supporting the internship programme in EUSA in order to help more young people experience University Sport from the inside.

The idea of European Voluntary Service in University Sport is spreading. The 3rd European Universities Games have hosted Annamaria, Reka from Hungary and Kasia from Poland for the whole year leading up to the Games. Annamaria for example has been coordinating the presence of all teams in eight different sports. She has had a very positive experience and is very satisfied with the opportunity and responsibilities she was given.