By providing student athletes
with disabilities the opportunity
to compete and demonstrate
their physical ability, competing
in EUSA events and doing sport
in general, also can help to
reduce stereotypes and negative
perceptions associated with
disabilities. The opportunity
to compete in the European
Universities Games started
with the European Universities
Games in Zagreb – Rijeka in
2016, which brought sports for
athletes with disabilities for the
first time to EUSA sports events.
Two sports were introduced at
that time, para swimming and
para table tennis, being the
moment to open the doors to
some other para sports as well.
In 2016 student athletes with
disabilities were also part of
the Mind Games competition,
as well as being among the
hard-working volunteers. At the
European Universities Games
in 2018 in Coimbra, Para Table
Tennis was again present at
the official sport program,
including also an educational
event, a Forum of Sport, Special
Movement, a sport event
for people with intellectual
disabilities.
In 2022, at the 6th edition of the
European University Games,
there was no difference when
it comes to inclusion. Speaking
of which, on 19th of July, two
teams met at Sport Arena to
play against each other in one of
the promo sports for this year,
Sitting Volleyball. Even though
the size of the playing field is
smaller than in the traditional
volleyball (6×10 meters) the
same couldn’t be said about
the emotions and the level of
competition.
As sitting volleyball is all about
promoting equality, integration,
and inclusion, the team
members can be both: players
with disabilities and those
without. The most important
rule is that during the time
that the action takes place, the
buttocks must touch the floor.
One more difference that can
be found in this variety of the
discipline is that it is possible
to block the ball directly after it
has been served.
During the Sports’ Arena’s
competition there were two
minor changes introduced
into the rules in comparison
with the original sitting-
ball’s regulations—the teams
consisted of 4 people (instead
12, 3 people on the playing field
at time) and they had to win
2 sets played up to 25 points
(2 points difference still had to
be present) instead of 3. While
watching the competition, one
could easily notice that the
teams were not only immersing
themselves in the rivalry, but
they were also having fun time
playing the game they love.Another promo sport, para
weightlifting also had its own
competition day and well-
deserved spotlight, under
the slogan “Lift for Health”.
Paralympic powerlifting, also
known as para powerlifting and
para-lifting, is an adaptation
of the sport of powerlifting for
athletes with disabilities. The
only discipline in Paralympic
powerlifting is the bench press.In para powerlifting, athletes
assume a supine position on a
specially designed bench, and
after taking or receiving the bar
at arms-length, the lifter waits
with locked elbows and the bar
under control for the Referee’s
signal.The competition of this promo
sport happened at Zatoka
Sportu and had participants
from different countries,
competing in both men’s and
women’s categories, in bench
press. Competitors were
supposed to lower the bar to
their chest, hold it motionless
on the chest and then press it
upwards to arms-length with
locked elbows. The athletes
were given three attempts and
the winner was the athlete who
lifted the highest number of
kilograms. In the men’s category
of this competition some of
the most successful athletes
winning gold medals were,
Tomasz Majewski, competing in
category to 95 kg, Tomek Zajac,
in weight category to 68 kg and
Marek Trykacz, competing in
the weight category up to 65 kg.
Among the women, one of the
most successful winning a gold
medal were Paulina Przywecka-
Puziak, competing in the weight
category up to 60 kg and Monika
Majewska, in the category up to
50 kg.