The caravan of the Montenegrin Olympic Committee, as part of the "Train with Olympians" project, visited elementary school students throughout Boka Kotorska in the last two weeks.
The Montenegrin Olympic team, celebrated former and current Olympians, along with a team of instructors, visited the elementary schools "Branko Brnić" in Tivat, "Veljko Drobnjaković" in Risno and "Ilija Kišić" in Herceg Novi, as well as water polo and swimming clubs Jadran and Primorac.
Girls and boys had a unique opportunity to socialize, meet and practice with medal winners and participants of the biggest sports competitions, members of the Montenegrin Olympic team: Veljko Uskoković, Marko Petković, Dušan Matković and Andjela Antunović.
They made an effort to turn a standard physical education class into something different and more fun filled with socializing, motivational speeches and various games.
"I think it is extremely important that there are projects like this, and every child who starts playing sports when he sees one of his role models at the edge of the pool gives him great pleasure. It is certain that great players are the ones who can more easily transfer their knowledge to children than people who do not come from the world of sports. My idols were Zoran Džimi Gopčević, and I had the pleasure of having him first as my role model, and later as my coach. Later, there was also Igor Milanović, who is perhaps one of the best players in the world of all time," said Veljko Uskoković, captain of the first Montenegrin water polo team.
"It's always nice to work with children. There's nothing nicer than bringing sports closer to children and encouraging them to start playing sports, if they haven't already. I remember myself at some of their age when I was animated by Aleksandar Ćirković, Daniko Ikodinović and Dejan Savić. It meant a lot to me and gave me an incentive to play sports," said Marko Petković, while Dušan Matković emphasized that this project "is an extraordinary opportunity for our youngest fellow citizens to get acquainted not only with sports, but also with healthy lifestyles ".
"I had a lot of role models who were not from this area, but first of all, I started swimming because of my sister, and that's how I fell in love with it and stayed in that sport," added swimmer Anđela Antunović.
In addition to promotional activities, COK donated basketball, volleyball and soccer balls to schools as part of the "Train with Olympians" project. On this occasion, school principals were presented with certificates of appreciation for their contribution and participation in the project.
The idea of the Montenegrin Olympic Committee, with the aim of promoting Olympic values and healthy lifestyles, as well as the importance of physical activity, was recognized and supported by the International Olympic Committee through its Olympic Solidarity Fund.
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