Serbia is the leading country in Europe in the number of children under the age of 14 who have diabetes. In order to contribute to the improvement of the health of our youngest fellow citizens, the company Wiener Städtische insurance (WSO), the second year in a row, supported Sport Against Diabetes (TYPE 1) Project.
Since physical activity is important in preventing the onset and control of the disease, through this project, children with diabetes will be able to have free weekly sports training in five cities in Serbia. Since this year, support for the project has been given by the Serbian Institute of Sport and Sports Medicine (serb. ZSMSRS) through free testing for children with diabetes. The project will, for the sixth year in a row, be realized by the sports club Vasariste from Kragujevac, which is also the initiator of the project.
The official opening of the new season of Sport Against Diabetes Project was organized in Belgrade on February 28 at 1 p.m. at the Senjak Sports Academy. At the opening, guests were addressed by Borko Marinkovic, the initiator of the project and the president of SK Vasariste, Dragana Nerandzic, Head of Marketing at WSO, Aleksandar Stankovic, a doctor and a representative of ZSMSRS and Mateja Marinkovic, a promoter of the project. Support for the project was given by the actress Andjelka Prpic, who led the program, as well as by a TV presenter Dejan Pantelic, who was exercising with the children after the official opening.
“In Serbia, diabetes affects more than 8.2% of the population and the number of children under the age of 14 who suffer from this disease is growing year by year. Therefore, our company decided to continue to support the Sport Against Diabetes Project, in order to help these children to develop and grow with the help of certain measures, advice and a disciplined lifestyle. Through this project, we enable children with diabetes to have a free weekly training of football, badminton and sports school. As in previous years, free training will be available to children in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kragujevac, and since this year we have expanded our project to Nis and Cacak,” said Dragana Nerandzic.
“In addition to free sports activities, we will work on the education of children and teachers in primary schools regarding diabetes. In two primary schools in the cities covered by this action, we will participate in physical education classes. Our goal is to motivate elementary school students to take up sports, but also to try to achieve that these children are not discriminated by their peers and surroundings. Moreover, we will educate teachers about the problem of diabetes and how to react if there are students suffering from this disease in their classes,” said Borko Marinkovic on that occasion. “I am pleased that this year we have another partner in the project – Institute for Sports and Sports Medicine of the Republic of Serbia. They will provide professional and educational support and monitoring of psychophysical development of a number of children involved in this project.”
From now on, free training will be provided to elementary school students in three cities – Kragujevac, Novi Sad and Belgrade, with breaks during the school holidays, at the following locations:
- Belgrade – badminton, Slodes Sports Center, 92 f Borska and sports school at the Senjak Sports Academy, 29 Andre Nikolica;
- Novi Sad – training in OLEE Sports School, 37 Novosadskog sajma and Oasis Sports Center, 17 Bulevar Evrope;
- Kragujevac – sports school in the sports hall of the Faculty of Sciences, 12 Radoja Domanovica Street.
As of March, training will be available to children in Cacak, and as of April in Nis as well.
Anyone interested can find more information on the following site www.sportomprotivdijabetesa.com