With 38% of locals engaged in sports activities, Sisak truly is a town of sports.
The fact that children in Sisak can learn to swim for free every summer and that all children in kindergartens have free skating lessons helped Sisak be declared the European City of Sports for 2019. The prestigious title was awarded to Sisak by a Brussels-based non-profit organization ACES Europe, after a committee spent several days in the town, reports Lokalni.hr on July 19, 2018.
“Sisak is the first town in Croatia to win this award in the category of cities with over 25,000 inhabitants. Some smaller towns have received the title in the category of up to 25,000 inhabitants, such as Buzet, Belišće, and Umag. This can now give impetus to additional sports projects in the town,” said Berislav Čižmek, a consultant who was part of the team which helped Sisak receive the prestigious title. He noted that the committee was particularly impressed with the availability of sports activities to all citizens, especially children and the elderly.
The fact that 38 percent of inhabitants of Sisak are engaged in sports activities impressed ACES's representatives, as well as the fact that many of the sports facilities are available for free, which is not common in many European countries.
The award presentation ceremony for Sisak and other European cities will be held in December at the European Parliament in Brussels. The title of the European metropolis of sports will be awarded to Budapest.
The town administration is understandably delighted with the results achieved. “Since January, when we submitted the candidacy, we have been working on winning the title, especially the Community of Sisak Sports Associations and all the local clubs. This is the result of five-year efforts and is truly something we can be proud of. There are some towns which like to boast now that they have begun to cover the costs of travel to various competitions for sports clubs, but we have been doing that for the past three, four years,” said Sisak Deputy Mayor Marko Krička.
The authorities will now draft a programme that will try to increase the percentage of people of Sisak who are active in sports to 45% next year, and they also hope to organise European competitions and renovate sports facilities.
Translated from Lokalni.hr (reported by Danijel Prerad).
