The first European Sport Platform was a two-day conference, organized by the European Non-Governmental Sports Organisation (ENGSO), hosted by the Hungarian Competitive Sport Federation, in co-operation with the European Lotteries. Dora Farago from ENGSO Youth reflects on the event.

The conference was held in Budapest, Hungary, on the 16-17 of November in 2018. The first edition of the European Sport Platform addressed two current topics: the modern sports club and esports meets sports clubs. The programme consisted of keynote speeches that offered insight and inspiration, as well as possibilities for the participants to discuss and share their own experiences on the topics. Speakers were addressing topics such as new vision for sports clubs, development of esports, modern sport clubs promoting inclusion, health, and more.



During the conference one of the most interesting part for me was when the Hungarian professional e-sport players explained how esports and traditional sports can benefit from each other. They explained how playing physical activity and following a healthy lifestyle can benefit their performance in playing esports and also how the various competences what they can gain through e-sports can benefit the physical activities they play and vice versa. It was nice to hear about the background potentials of ’esports meets sport clubs’.

The other very interesting topic for me was the rise and fall of youth participation in sport clubs. During the conference we got one very specific answer for the potential reason of youth drop before adolescent from sport clubs, what was the following: sports simply stop being fun. Peter Mattson (from the Swedish Sports Confederation) explained: "If we can learn more about the characteristics of the sport that are really fun in the 21st century, then our chances to meet the needs of participants will increase dramatically."



During the conference we had the opportunity to hear about different kind of possibilities how to make sport clubs modern in order to encourage more participation, what was very interesting and useful for me. This conference was definitely a great opportunity to share our knowledge and to raise awareness about the future of sports.

The European Sport Platform was the first international conference, where I had the opportunity to contribute with my work as a host organizer through the Hungarian Competitive Sport Federation, furthermore as a representative of ENGSO Youth I had the opportunity to spread the viewpoints of youth during the conference.



The article is written by Dora Farago, Operations Manager in ENGSO Youth. She studied Recreation Management at the University of Physical Education Budapest.

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(Photos by Nándor Vörös / Hungarian Competitive Sport Federation)