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These were attended by the 8 best teams from all over
the country. It was also the first time that the
organisations decided to appoint a coach to select the
best of the players and be responsible for preparing
them for the Champions’ Tournament.
The coach, Artur Hyżyk, undertook to organise warm-up
sessions, during which he would prepare the team for the
HWC in Gothenburg. These sessions took place in Pleszewo,
Poznań and Warsaw, where, besides the training sessions,
a number of matches were played against teams made up of
actors, journalists and politicians as well as different
members of NGOs.
After these preparations, the team went to Sweden where
it finished third in the 2004 HWC. This was a great
success for the Polish players, not only because of what
they did on the pitch but also because they established
many relations with people from similar backgrounds in
other countries.
Back in Poland, at a meeting attended by the coach, the
players and representatives of the different
organizations, it was unanimously decided to establish a
Polish Streetleague. For a year nothing was done due to
problems in cooperation between the different
environments but a great breakthrough was made with the
establishment of the 'Barka' Sports Association for
Social Integration.
The
Association encouraged the players of the national team
as well as players from other teams to hold regular
games with each other, which facilitated the process of
preparing the national team and helped to unify the
football environment functioning under the auspices of
Polish non-governmental organizations.
This was the first step that showed us the importance of
social integration for particular groups and the
importance of having a common passion in the form of
football. The Sports Association asked Mr Hyżyk to again
work with the Polish team in preparation for the 2005
HWC in Edinburgh, Scotland.
During this tournament, our team won the silver medal
surrendering only to the Italians after a fierce match.
Since this discipline started to develop very
dynamically and was gaining popularity among different
organizations in Poland, we decided to try to organize
the next HWC in Poland. The idea itself was received
with great enthusiasm in the country.
Support
for the organization of this event in Poland was
expressed by many NGOs, the authorities of Poznań, the
management of the Polish Football Association, as well
as the government and all media. Maciej Kozłowski, a
famous Polish actor and football fan, is an example of
an individual who supports the work of the Sports
Association regarding the organization of the HWC and
the creation of the Polish Streetleague.
The concept behind this event is raising awareness on
social issues and ways of activating specific groups
threatened with social exclusion. After the press
conference dedicated to Poland’s attempts to organize
HWC, media and many institutions from throughout the
country wanted to become involved in this project.
In our preparations for implementing the 2007 HWC
project, our Association receives strong support
regarding the establishment of the Polish Streetleague,
which is the first stage of preparations for the
championships in Cape Town in 2006.
The objective of creating the Polish Streetleague is to
provide everyone with equal opportunities in the area of
sports, irrespective of their social status. The
overriding goal of the Association is to propagate the
establishment of national leagues in all countries, as
an excellent tool for overcoming social barriers.
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Our
representants come from different environments.
They are mostly threatened by social exclusion
process. Our organization builds Polish Street
Soccer League. We want to help as many people as
it is posssible in practising sport completely
free of charge, our the best footballers have a
possibility to represent our country in Homeless
World Cup. |
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