In the tenth series of True stories, the Erasmus+ Sport project reveals TOSF Deputy Chairman’s Adem Yakıncı experience by telling how school sports activities were during the Pandemic (Covid-19).
The pandemic had not only affected Turkey, but the whole world. Life in social, economic and commercial areas had almost come to a standstill, and institutions and people from many different sectors, including education, health and sports, were adversely affected. I hope the world will never experience such a negative situation again.
Domestic school sports activities continued under the coordination of the Ministry of Youth and Sports. The Ministry of National Education was also the biggest supporter of this large-scale activity. Everything was going well, competitions were being held and preparations were made in many different sports branches to participate in the GYMNASIADE games to be held in China in November 2020. Those who were successful as a result of the inter-school competitions would gain the right to represent their school in this great organization. This was a great motivation for the athletic students. Every student wanted to represent their school and gain international experience by competing in this great championship. It was a great honour for them.
However, with the declaration of a pandemic in the world on March 11, 2020, everything suddenly became very different. Restrictions began in social life, and many sectors, including commercial and economic life, came to the point of closure. Each country was making restriction decisions within itself, and the world was moving towards a collective closure. Although the event was not fully understood at the beginning, it was becoming more and more understandable that sports activities would be affected by the pandemic. Human health came first and all precautions were taken for humanity. And the date of March 2020… The period when school sports activities were completely restricted in Turkey had begun. After the Olympic games were postponed to the summer of 2021 on March 24, 2020, the GYMNASIADE games were postponed first to November 2021 and then again to November 2022. Later, as a result of the decision taken by the ISF (International School Sport Federation), it was decided to hold the games in France in May 2022. Considering all this change, it was clearly seen how the pandemic affected sports activities.
Despite all these negativities and limitations, coaches and physical education teachers made great efforts to stick to the curriculum and training programs. They continued the process using both their social media accounts and various online programs. In this difficult process, their biggest motivation was to ensure the continuity of the athlete students. Although they were successful in most of the students, unfortunately, there were also students who left the sport in this process. However, the pandemic began to lose its effect, and the restrictions were no longer as strict as they were at the beginning of the pandemic, and many students who quit sports were now slowly taking their places in school sports activities. This made us very happy. Motivation of trainers and physical education teachers started to increase gradually.
After a period of 3 years, everything is back to normal now. Both domestic school sports activities and international school sports championships continue stronger than where they left off. Perhaps our greatest experience during the pandemic was as follows; “No matter what, sports activities must continue. Even if it comes to a standstill sometimes, one should never give up and sports activities should always be maintained through distance education and training methods, using technology somehow.”

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