FISU Secretary General-CEO Eric Saintrond presented the activities undertaken by the federation during the COVID-19 period, at the 2020 Yokohama Sport Conference that was held online from 8-22 September. FISU Education Committee Chair and Senior Executive Committee member Verena Burk also submitted a paper on Dual Career as well as the results of studies conducted during the Krasnoyarsk and Napoli World University Games last year.
The event was co-hosted by the Japan Society of Physical Education, Health and Sport Sciences (JSPEHSS), Japan Academic Alliance for Sport, Physical Education, and Health Sciences (JAASPEHS) as well as International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education (ICSSPE).
During a session on the impact of COVID-19, Saintrond spoke of FISU’s resilience and ability to adapt, as many projects, events and activities were successfully switched to an online format in 2020.
“The year 2020 has been challenging, with most sport events cancelled,” he said in his presentation. “The global health crisis has generated challenges of a large scope in areas including staff management, sanitary measures, events and membership.”
“For the last six months, FISU has had to find solutions to support its members, to ensure the continuity of its activities and even to make the best of the current situation through innovation”.
Among the many projects that were run successfully during this period, were the launch of the FISU Healthy Campus Project, the first ever FISU eSports challenge as well as a (#FitAtHome) social media campaign to keep students around the world active.
The FISU Volunteer Leaders Academy and the FISU World Forum took place online for the first time online, and both included a strong dimension on how to remain active in this period of COVID-19.
Dr. Verena Burk presented the paper ‘The importance of university support services for student-athletes’ dual career – An international survey’. Some of the main points considered in this paper are:
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Only a few athletes in a few sports worldwide are able to earn their living through elite sport and to secure it beyond their sporting career.
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Most athletes have to plan and promote a professional career during their sporting career (dual career) if they do not want to be affected by social relegation.
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Several surveys show that a large proportion of the athletes at the Olympic Games are One example is the German Olympic team with a 36.5% share of students at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. In other countries such as the USA and Australia, the proportion of students on the Olympic team is even higher.
More information on the 2020 Yokohama Sport Conference can be found here.