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1st SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE SPE BALKAN SKI
Kopaonik Ski Resort, Serbia, 12th-16th March 2017
The desire and willingness to cooperate in the field of winter sports has always been present in the Balkan countries. Various forms of cooperation have long been present, however, limited at individual or, mostly institutional level. There have always been cooperation initiatives that would systemically link the ski experts of the Balkan Peninsula, but somehow they have not been realised. After the Slovenian team had returned from the Interski Congress in Argentina at the end of 2015, we were able to share our impressions and experience we had gained in Argentina with our Serbian colleagues in Kopaonik and Bosnian colleagues in Jahorina in the winter of 2016. This was the starting point from which the idea to organise a Balkan Ski Congress according to the Interski model arose. The main idea was to combine science, practice and education in the field of winter sports, to enhance interest in the wider scientific and professional public as well as to enrich ski companionship and to involve other professionals who have a common interest in the field of winter sports. This led to organising the SPE (Science, Practice & Education) Balkan Ski Conference.
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Good previous experience was the reason for choosing the Kopaonik Ski Resort as the venue of the first Conference, and building on excellent collaboration between all the major players in the scientific and technical fields guarantees a successful organisation of the event. All the associations that unite skiing trainers and teachers in this area immediately supported the idea of the Conference. International response was achieved with the presentation of the SPE Balkan Ski Conference at the ICSS - International Conference of Science and Ski, in December 2016 in St. Christoph, Austria and its promotion was fostered through the ECSS European College of Sport Science official site. An important added value was the excellency of the guest speakers who came from different parts of the world and, of course, the audience; ski enthusiasts, researchers, professors, trainers and ski teachers.
Over 120 participants from 14 countries of the Balkans (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia and Serbia) and others (the USA, Great Britain, Italy, Czech Republic, Lithuania ...) registered for the Conference and we are sure that the first SPE Balkan Ski Conference fulfilled the main goals that the organisers set forward - to empower, advocate, develop and promote ski professions, as well as to consider scientific and professional bases in theory and practice.
Besides theoretical lectures and workshops, for which our international guest lecturers contributed a special added value, practical work on the slopes was very important for the full success of the Conference. Workshops that were led by experts and the members of demo teams from the participating countries opened up new insights in learning and instructing how to ski.
To guarantee the success of the conference and promote its vision, it was also important to develop a network of excellence by bringing together ski experts, i.e. ski instructors, coaches, scientists and other ski professionals from the Balkan region, and make their integration and networking possible. At the opening session, the participants were greeted and welcomed by a ski legend and one of the best skiers of all times in the Balkan region, Bojan Križaj, whilst the Bulgarian colleagues presented the Interski Pamporovo 2019 meeting. Mingling and setting up potential collaborations between ski instructors played an important role during the following days, culminating on Wednesday, March 15 with the Balkan Ski Demo Show when all the national demo teams from the participating countries and some registered ski schools from the Balkan area introduced themselves jointly as well as individually.
The 2nd SPE Balkan Ski Congress will be organized from March 11th to 15th, 2018 in Jahorina Ski Resort in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the 1984 Winter Olympics also took place.
Rado Pišot
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1. ZNANSTVENA KONFERENCA SPE BALKAN SKI
Smučarsko središče Kopaonik, Srbija, 12.-16. marec 2017
Med državami Balkana je bila od nekdaj prisotna želja in pripravljenost, da bi sodelovale na področju zimskih športov. Različne oblike sodelovanja so sicer prisotne že dalj časa, vendar so večinoma omejene na osebno ali največ institucionalno raven. Ves čas je čutiti tudi prisotnost najrazličnejših iniciativ za sistematično povezovanje smučarskih strokovnjakov, ki pa žal v praksi nikoli niso resnično zaživele. Po povratku slovenskih udeležencev iz kongresa Interski v Argentini ob koncu leta 2015, smo imeli možnost deliti tam pridobljene vtise in izkušnje, najprej s kolegi iz Srbije na Kopaoni-ku, kasneje pa še s kolegi iz Bosne in Hercegovine na Jahorini. Ti dve srečanji pozimi 2016 sta bili izhodiščni točki, iz katerih je izšla ideja, da bi po vzoru kongresov Interski organizirali tudi Balkanski smučarski kongres. Osnovno vodilo pri tem je bilo, da bi združili vidike znanosti, prakse in vzgoje na področju zimskih športov. Iniciatorji ideje so s tem želeli povečati zanimanje širše znanstvene in strokovne javnosti, obogatiti smučarsko druženje ter v dogajanje pritegniti širši krog strokovnjakov, ki jih druži sku-
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pni interes na področju zimskih športov. Vse to je privedlo do organizacije konference SPE (Science, Practice & Education / Znanost, stroka in vzgoja) BALKAN SKI.
Dobre pretekle izkušnje s tem prizoriščem so bile razlog, da je bilo za kraj izvedbe prve konference izbrano smučarsko središče Kopaonik. Številna predhodna izvrstna sodelovanja med vsemi glavnimi akterji tako na znanstvenih kot tudi strokovnih področjih pa so zagotavljala organizacijo na najvišjem nivoju. Vse organizacije, ki na izbranem področju kakorkoli združujejo smučarske trenerje in učitelje, so idejo o konferenci nemudoma podprle. Za mednarodni odziv so organizatorji poskrbeli s tem, da so SPE BALKAN SKI decembra 2016 predstavili na konferenci ICSS (International Conference of Science and Ski), ki je potekala v kraju St. Christoph v Avstriji, ter s promocijo preko uradne spletne strani ECSS (European College of Sport Science). Pomembno dodano vrednost h konferenci so prispevali izvrstni povabljeni predavatelji iz različnih delov sveta ter seveda pričakovani udeleženci, smučarski navdušenci, raziskovalci, profesorji, trenerji in učitelji smučanja.
Na konferenco se je prijavilo preko 120 udeležencev iz 14 držav iz Balkana (Bosna in Hercegovina, Črna Gora, Hrvaška, Makedonija, Slovenija in Srbija) ter od drugod (ZDA, Velika Britanija, Italija, Republika Češka, Litva, ...). Prepričani smo, da je prva konferenca SPE BALKAN SKI v celoti dosegla cilje, ki so si jih zastavili organizatorji, in sicer opolnomočiti, promovirati in razvijati smučarsko stroko ter tako v teoriji kot praksi zagotoviti znanstveno in strokovno osnovo.
Poleg teoretičnih predavanj in delavnic, ki so jim posebno dodano vrednost zagotovili mednarodni gostujoči predavatelji, so bile pomemben del konference tudi praktične demonstracije na zasneženih pobočjih Kopaonika. Delavnice, ki so jih vodili strokovnjaki, člani demonstracijskih ekip posameznih držav udeleženk, so ponudile nov vpogled v tehnike učenja smučanja.
Za uspeh konference in doseganje njene vizije je bila pomembna tudi vzpostavitev kvalitetne mreže, ki bi povezala strokovnjake iz različnih področij; inštruktorje smučanja, trenerje, znanstvenike in druge, ki se kakorkoli ukvarjajo s smučanjem, iz Balkanskih držav. Na otvoritveni slovesnosti je udeležence konference pozdravil Bojan Križaj, smučarska legenda in eden najboljših smučarjev vseh časov iz te regije. Kolegi iz Bolgarije pa so predstavili prihodnje srečanje Interski Pamporovo 2019. Druženje in vzpostavljanje morebitnih bodočih sodelovanj med učitelji smučanja je bilo vodilo dogajanja prihodnjih dni konference. Ta je svoj vrhunec nedvomno doživela v sredo, 15. marca, ko so se nacionalne demonstracijske skupine držav udeleženk in prijavljenih smučarskih šol predstavile v Balkan Ski Demo Show-u tako v skupnem nastopu kot tudi individualno.
Naslednja, 2. SPE Balkan Ski konferenca, bo potekala od 11. do 15. marca 2018 v smučarskem središču Jahorina v Bosni in Hercegovini, prizorišču zimskih olimpijskih iger leta 1984.
Rado Pišot
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