Republic of Croatia
President

Dear Sports Friends,
It gave me great pleasure to hear about the bid of
the Croatian Federation for Sports Recreation Sport
for All and the City of Rovinj to host the XVII EFCS
Eurosportfestival in 2009.
 
Several major international sports-recreational events,
assessed as very successful, have been held in Croatia.
They demonstrated in the best way that sport is
necessary to the adults, especially labour force because
it promotes their health and capacity for work.
 
Croatia, as a modern European country, tries to encourage its citizens to engage in sport not only for the sake of sports achievements. Sport is a part of an
active lifestyle, meaningful leisure activities and a way of life.
 
Sport for All plays an important role in promoting a balanced and healty lifestyle of the citizens and in establishing good neighbourly relations, the latter
being very significant for the countries in this part of Europe.
 
I hope that, upon the acceptance of the bid of the City of Rovinj and the Croatian Federation for Sports Recreation Sport for All, our guests will be able
to enjoy in a wide range of tourist services and the hospitality of our citizens. Thus we will make new friends, prospective visitors to our beautiful Adriatic Sea and the entire country

Warm greetings,

Stjepan Mesić
President of the Republic of Croatia
Zagreb, May 5th 2004

 

Editorial by Mr Didier BESSEYRE
President of the EFCS XVIIth European Summer Games of Company Sport 2009 - ROVINJ

20 years ago already, the city of Rovinj had been entrusted with the organisation of the European Summer Games of Company Sport. There can be no doubt that this first experience, along with the effort and dynamism of today’s Croatian Federation for Company Sport, will be very profitable for the forthcoming event. When the city of Rovinj was chosen for the organisation of the Games, it was on the basis of a well-founded concept and a complete devotion to the event.

The commitment by Mr Giovanni Sponza, mayor of Rovinj and who has already
participated in the Games as a sportsman, as well as the personal support given by Mr Stjepan Mesić, the President of the Croatian Republic, is a guaranty that the best possible conditions will be created to receive our participants.
The plans for the renovation and construction of several sports sites, like a new bowling centre, witness the collective effort. This great event will bring together more than 5000 sportsmen and -women from all the member countries of the European Federation for Company Sport. The competition taking place under the sign of a fair and sane engagement in sports will find its complement in the rigour and professionalism of the Croatian organisers.

In choosing to participate in the Games of Rovinj, you will have the opportunity to discover one of the most beautiful resorts of Croatia. You will find yourself in a city which has decided to open to you the charm of its port and the welcoming arms of its population, and which will make everyone of us feel like an honoured guest. I trust in you to come numerously and honour the great engagement of the Croatian federation and the city of Rovinj. As participants of the XVIIth European Games of Company Sport, you will have the pleasure to take part in the European sports event 2009.

It would be my great pleasure to meet you in Rovinj on June
17th, 2009.

Best regards,

Mr. Sc. Didier Besseyre
President of the European Federation of Company Sport

 

President of the Croatian Olympic Committee

Dear sport professionals and friends of sport, I am extremely honored to be in position to express, personally and on behalf of Croatian Olympic family, the contentment with the fact that Croatia and city of Rovinj will host 17th European Company Sport Games in 2009. Receiving the organization of such prestigious event, the largest and the most important sport anifestation that assembles thousands of sport recreation practitioners from all over Europe, represents a tremendous acknowledgment to Croatian Union for Sport Recreation "Sport for all", to city of Rovinj, and to Croatia. In the course of years, city of Rovinj has become the city of sport and of sport recreation. Besides having a number of sport clubs, Rovinj has become known as a center for organizing international kinesiology summits, and large sport recreational manifestations, two of which  were organized and held under the sponsorship of the International Olympic Committee.
Croatian Olympic Committee fully supports Croatian Union for Sport Recreation "Sport for all" in their activities, sharing with it a common aim of developing the sport recreational exercising to become a social and cultural necessity for all the citizens of the Republic of Croatia. Next to being a major sport event, European Company Sport Games bring to Rovinj and Croatia a significant increase in tourist and economic activities. Our dear guests from Europe will have the opportunity to experience the traditional Croatian hospitality, excellent organization, and natural
beauties of Rovinj and Istria.

We are looking forward to welcoming you in Rovinj and Croatia!

President of the Croatian Olympic Committee
Mr. Sc. Zlatko Mateša

 

President of the Croatian "Sport for All" Federation

Ladies and Gentlemen, dear friends of sport recreation,
On the eve of 17th European Company Sport Games in Rovinj in 2009, we are using this opportunity to greet you and invite you all to participate in programs of this sport recreational manifestation. Not only because the sport recreation was, and still is, a place where the people of good will gather, but also because such gatherings represent much more than mere sport recreational meetings. Namely, if mutual understanding, bringing together, respecting differences, helping and respect, represent the basic human values, then sport recreational manifestations represent the right place for achieving these human values.

Entrusting city of Rovinj with the hosting of 17th European Company Sport Games in 2009 represents to us not only the acknowledgment for all that has been achieved in the field of sport recreation in the Republic of Croatia, but also an obligation to once again prove our traditional hospitality and good organization of sport recreational manifestations; to open the doors of our country for new acquaintances and friendships, and to thus contribute to
the further development of sport recreation in both Croatia and Europe.
This conviction stems from the identity card of sport recreation in the Republic of Croatia, from which it is visible that in its recent development nothing has happened accidentally. On the contrary, the organization has always been at least one step ahead of demands of the time, which has enabled the sport recreation in our country to at all times remain concrete and vital. There is no doubt that this sport recreational manifestation will furthermore contribute to the development of sport recreation, and we would therefore like to, once again, express our gratitude to the EFCS for entrusting us the organization of 17th European Company Sport Games in Rovinj in 2009. City of Rovinj and Istria are the perfect
choice for hosting the Games, because they have already many times proven to be the excellent organizers of numerous sport recreational manifestations, and the great hosts. We believe that the time from 17th to 21st June 2009 will remain in good memories to all the participants of the Games, who will always remember the city of Rovinj as a true stage of cooperation and friendship among the
peoples.

Dear friends of sport recreation, assured that the surroundings and the general atmosphere of the Games, as well as conditions for working and playing will enable us to use the given time for the best of our capabilities, I would
like to welcome you with my best wishes for a pleasant stay in Croatia. I wish you a success in competitions and in your work, as well as in making new friends.

Sincerely yours,

Prof. dr. sc. Vladimir Findak
President of the Croatian "Sport for All" Federation

 

Giovanni Sponza
Mayor of the City of Rovinj

Rovinj will for the second time in the last twenty years, host European Company Sport Games. This fact by itself makes us proud, and, at the same time obliged to, once again show our traditional hospitality, and to professionally organize this major event.  While hosting the Games in 1989 was both a privilege and a challenge, hosting the Games in 2009 is an acknowledgment to the city of Rovinj, in which meanwhile the Olympic flag was raised twice. It was first raised in 1998, during the st
Festival of Sport Recreation, sponsored by the nternational Olympic Committee. The Olympic flag was raised second time three years later, when the International Olympic Committee was sponsoring Sport Recreational Games of Women and Families. Thanks to the synergy of the City,
Tourist Office, and company Maistra, and to their mutual efforts in promoting cultural and social life in the City,  Rovinj has many times organized or co-organized sport recreational manifestations and other gatherings of sport recreation practitioners. This cooperation will continue in organizing 17th European Company Sport Games in Rovinj in 2009.

This acknowledgment comes to us in time when the city of Rovinj has already become the healthy town in which sport and recreation are the integrative part of the culture of living. Investing in people through sport and sport organizations,
in sport facilities and courts, in new promenades and bicycle traces, and, most importantly, into ensuring a healthy lifestyle for citizens of all ages, was the goal of  the city growing in harmony with needs of its citizens. Today Rovinj with barely 15.000 citizens has a dozen of exceptionally active organizations for sport recreation, and some thirty successful sport clubs. Without any doubt, increase of the number of recreational contents, facilities, and improvement of infrastructure, which will happen with the coming of the Games, will surely be a reward and an encouragement to our sport and recreation practitioners, who have always
actively participated on the Games.

Because of all of it, and keeping in mind professionalism and experience of the people leading the Croatian Union for Sport Recreation, I believe in success of this great sport manifestation, which will be happening in the sport courts of Rovinj in 2009, under the high sponsorship of the President of the Republic of Croatia, Mr. Stjepan Mesić.

Rovinj has always been an attractive town with its Mediterranean architectonic peculiarity, hospitality, creativity, and with its picturesque, culturally priceless historical city core. Rovinj today also has a long and successful sport tradition and professionals that can make these Games the best games possible. I hope these wishes, carried by the spirit of sport, will turn into reality, on the benefit of the Union, the participants, and us all.

Giovanni Sponza
Mayor of the City of Rovinj

 

Prof. Dr. Mirko Relac, Honorary president of the Croatian "Sport for All" Federation

Dear sport friends,
I am always looking forward to all our gatherings, since
1987 in Vienna and 1989 in the sunlit Rovinj. After 20 years, we will gather in Rovinj again, now in free and independent Republic of Croatia. It seems to me as if the time has stopped; because the past two decades did not too much change many participants whom I met then for the first time. However, something indeed did change: the host city has grown and spread twice a size, built beautiful hotels, settlements, and highways, and at the same time managed to preserve the beauty of its surrounding nature and the
purity of sea.

How much effort did we put into stopping or slowing down the biological alterations of our bodies, conditioned by the process of ageing? Participating every second year at our European manifestations did not significantly contribute to it, because the results depend only on a number of hours and liters of sweat we spent on exercising throughout the year. They are the indicators which must become the main motifs for participating in our recreational "Sport for all". Other motifs include: socializing, learning about new cultures, peoples and their ustoms, homogenization of family, living and working surroundings, useful and substantial spending of free time; in on word, the culture of living. If we strive towards these motifs, than even the sport result, regardless of whether we win or lose, will represent only the secondary value of our activities, which we leave
behind after only a short time.

We should keep in our minds that losing is not embarrassing if we make it a tribute to the better, while the joy of playing the game can be shared with our partner. European Company Sport Games are not primarily competitive; they serve as a mediator for meeting of friends who consider "Sport for all" the important part of the culture of living in the contemporary world.

Have a beautiful time playing and testing your abilities, and safely return home to continue exercising regularly in accordance with your program "Sport for all".

Be a better person today than you were yesterday, and tomorrow be a better person than you are today.

Your friend,
Prof. dr. Mirko Relac