For the 13th year, the «I Love Sports - Kids’ Athletics» programme started at the Panathinaiko Stadium with the participation of students from Primary Schools all over the country.
The official opening for the period 2023/24 was the visit of the Deputy Minister of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports, Domna-Maria Michaelidou, accompanied by the President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee and IOC member Spyros Capralos, who saw the programme in action, spoke to the children and left with the best impressions.
«We are delighted to relaunch this programme with the presence of the Deputy Minister. So far more than 250,000 students from more than 3000 primary schools all over Greece have come. The cooperation we have with the Ministry of Education is excellent and in particular with Mrs Michailidou, who embraced this programme from the moment we presented it to her. I think that the smiles of the children and the joy of the teachers are the best reward for this effort», said HOC President Spyros Capralos.
The Deputy Minister of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports, Domna-Maria Michaelidou, expressed her great satisfaction for the Ministry's cooperation in this programme: «I had the opportunity, together with President Spyros Capralos, to get to know the programme and to see the joy of the children participating in it. Congratulations to the Hellenic Olympic Committee, to its contributors, but also to the teachers who contribute to it and offer children the opportunity to get to know sport in such a unique place as the Panathinaikos Stadium. The Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports will always support such beautiful and special actions».
The Deputy Minister was accompanied by its Director Paraskevas Gialouris, while Denise Panagopoulou is coordinating the programme on behalf of the EOC and ETHNOA. The aim of the programme is for children to learn about the sports of athletics, basketball and volleyball from Olympic champions and distinguished athletes, to love sport and to learn about the history of the magnificent Panathinaikos Stadium.
During Mrs.Michaelidou's visit, the 7th Primary School of Halandri participated in the program with the Olympic champions and distinguished athletes George Chalkidis (handball), Nikos Passia (handball), Ioanna Bouzios (softball), Anna Charalambidis (water polo), Christina Kalta (rhythmic gymnastics), Christina Zachariadou (tennis), Sophia Simantiri (volleyball), Demosthenes Marifoglou (athletics) and Panagiotis Papanikolaou (judo) to introduce children to sports.
The program «I love sports-Kids’ Athletics», has been launched since April 2010, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Sports, the Ministry of National Defence and the ASAED, the National Olympic Academy and the SEGAS and is carried out with the kind support of the Pavlos & Alexandra Kanellopoulou Foundation.
It is free of charge and is addressed to students of all grades of primary schools and will be held daily at the Panathenaic Stadium from 9:00 am to 13:00 pm, by Olympic champions and distinguished athletes. It will last approximately 2 hours with the possibility of visiting from 9:00 to 11:00 or 11:00 to 13:00. At the end of the program, both the effort and participation of the students is rewarded with the awarding of commemorative certificates.
