The weekend of 19-20 September was a big one for the university sports community as the fifth International Day of University Sport was celebrated around the world.
Lucerne, Switzerland
In Lucerne, Switzerland, the preparations ran well in advance of the event. Twelve runners prepared for the IDUS Mountain Run trail running event for six months. The total distance of this run was 50km, with a 3550m descent. Here are more details of the event that took place at the Universität Luzern, which was a memorable experience for all participants.
Armenia
Over in Armenia, the IDUS celebrations were officially the first university sports event to be held after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions. 150 athletes from 10 universities took part in the ceremony, which included the attendance of representatives from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of the Republic of Armenia and Armenian National University Sports Federation.
Several sports were played, among which the Tug of War Beach Volleyball tournament were extremely popular. The Beach Volleyball tournament continues until today, September 22.
Asian University Sports Federation (AUSF)
The Asian University Sports Federation (AUSF) organised a Run Challenge from 19-21 September 2020. Thousands of participants from nine AUSF member federations participated in the challenge that emphasised a ‘We are together’ slogan.
CTUSF Secretary General and AUSF Vice President Ching-Yu TSENG (Front row, second from right) and the staffCTUSF
The Chinese Taipei University Sports Federation (CTUSF) made the challenge even more interesting, as Dr Ching-Yu Tseng, CTUSF Secretary General and AUSF Vice President, led the CTUSF staff around the Yinghanling Hiking Trail of the Guanyin Mountain, to an altitude of more than 616 meters.
FUSC
On 18 September, over 50 staff from the Federation of University Sports China (FUSC), completed a 20.20 kilometres Run Challenge at the Flower Expo Theme Park in Beijing, taking the AUSF Run Challenge further.
This was part of a week-long project that wrapped up at midnight on 20 September, with about 40,000 students and staff from 357 different universities participating – taking the numbers to record highs. The objective of the FUSC ‘Run Challenge’ was for university teams with a maximum of 500 students each, to run a total long distance of 2020 kilometers. Smaller teams of two to four students could also run a short distance of 20.20 kilometres, with all results recorded on a designated Joyrun App.
This in-person running event was possible after the COVID-19 pandemic has been effectively contained since the end of August in China. Normalcy is gradually being restored and all universities in China have been reopened.
Grand IDUS celebrations by FUSC, People’s Republic of China
Many students have felt increased stress and anxiety due to the closure of colleges and social distancing. “We hope this event unleashed the students’ long-restrained passion to embrace nature, fall in love with sports, and develop a healthy lifestyle in the long run,” said Dr Yanqing Xue, AUSF president, who also participated in the run.
SUSC
The Singapore University Sports Council (SUSC) organised the Run Challenge in a more creative way. Besides running the required distance, university students in Singapore also expressed their creativity by running and forming pictures or letters with different running routes. The photos were then uploaded on SUSC’s social media platforms.
The Run Challenge was also conducted successfully in Hong Kong, Macau, Iran, Malaysia and Thailand thanks to the great efforts from the local member federations.
Africa unite in IDUS celebrations
The African continent joined in on #LetsIDUS with enthusiasm, be it from their homes. This year posed a new challenge in the celebration of IDUS with COVID-19 restrictions in place around the African continent. At the same time, it was a unique opportunity for activities to take place online. From Somalia to Kenya and reaching the tip of South Africa, celebrations were underway with various exercise and sport related videos and dance activities.
The African University Sports Federation (FASU) took a decision to use the whole month of September to bring awareness and celebration of university sports and IDUS. The IDUS African Media Challenge was a big hit and attracted over 150 participants from around the continent. The challenges included:
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My Best University Sports Moment (photo with accompanying short story)
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Lockdown Fitness Challenge (video of any related sport/exercise activity)
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The TikTok “imitate your leader” video challenge
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“We (FASU) mainly ran a continental social media campaign, since many institutions are closed due to COVID-19. It has become hard for many universities to organise physical activities,” said Hannington Musoke FASU Media Committee member.
Moreover, FASU took the opportunity to also hold an online webinar with the topic ‘University Sports, Genesis of Values, Organisation and Achievements, the case of Morroco’ in partnership with Royal Moroccan Federation of University Sport (FRMSU).
Nomsa Mahlangu, FASU President, also took part in a dance video with fellow students from University of Johannesburg (UJ), who also commemorated the day with a virtual spring run which had student-athletes and sport administrators amongst the participants.
(Africa roundup by U-Media Reporter Kimara Singh)
FISU Student Committee
Meanwhile, FISU’s own Student Committee (CdE) chaired by Emiliano Ojea held a virtual seminar with 45 partcipants, about the history of IDUS, best practices and practical tips on how to organise an IDUS event.
Emiliano Ojea, the CdE Chair said: “This was a great first step and I would like to really congratulate each member of the committee for their involvement in this first activity we organised. We had 45 participants in total and we are hoping to reach even more people in the future.”
Joshua Mietke, member of the CdE added, “I am glad that with the IDUS celebrations we have started the activities of the FISU Student Committee. With the first activity we have drawn attention to the Student Committee and are now looking into the future for further activities. I would like to express my thanks to the other members of the Student Committee and the FISU staff involved for their support.”
