The second transnational meeting of the SENS Erasmus+ project, took place in Nikaia, Piraeus, Attiki, Greece, from 30 to 31 March 2023.

The hosts (Hellenic Powerlifting Association) and the representatives from SORGED (Turkey), Vere Montis (Croatia) and Scout Association (Romania) evaluated the progress of the project “For Sustainable Environment, Nature Sports (SENS)” and discussed about the next events, workshops and documentation.

H.P.A. awarded the Mayor of Nikaia – Aghios Ioannis Rentis Mr. Georgios Ioakeimidis and the Deputy Mayor for Sports Mr. Eleftherios Hadjipavlidis, for their continous support to the local sports clubs and for the Municipality’s support to the project.

Both the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor, welcomed the participants, expressed their support to such projects, emphasided to the benefits of people from all European and (in our occasion) Balkan countries working together. Additionaly, the Mayor as an Engineer specialised in Anti-Earthquake protection and as a Mayor who has visited Turkey after the 1999 earthquakes, emphasised on the local authorities from Greece who supported the victims and on the real consecuensies on the lifes of the local people and their societies.

Panagiotis Lekkas OLY cyclist world champion, also saluted the meeting wishing the best outcome.

During the two days, the participants had also the chance to visit the Athenian monuments and sightseeing (Acropolis, Plaka, Syndagma – Unknown soldier, Adrian arch, Olympius Zeus temple, Monastiraki, Kastela, Lycabetus Hill), together with the first modern Olympics (1896) facilities of Panathenaiko Stadium and Zappeion.

The hosts HPA, organised also a visit to facilities used in the Athens 2004 Olympics, so as to see the post-olympic usage of them.

First visit was at the Athens 2004 Weightlifting Hall, in Nikaia, Piraeus. The Hall was the venue of the contest, the training facility and the building that had also dormitories, doctors first aid rooms and equipment ect. It was not used for years until a few years ago when the Municipality and the Piraeus Univercity agreed about the transformation of the facility. The Hall building is now transformed into the Themistokleio Campus of the Piraeus University. Mr. Poniris, the technical director of the University, showed to the visitors the progress of the transformation, the changes made and explained the development plan of the facility, their future plans and more details about the former sports venue.

Another Olympic facility the SENS project participants visited, was the Training Center of the Athens 2004 Olympic Village.

The Olympic Village in Thrakomakedones neighborhood, northern suburb of Athens, is now a 16,500 residents town. The training Center, with little use after the Olympics, is now operating as an autonomous legal entity under the name “National Sports Training Center of the OlympicVillage” subjected to the General Secretariat of Sports of the Ministry of Culture and Sports. The President of the Legal Entity Mr. Petros Galanis welcomed the international visitors with warm greetings and gifts. The Center’s personell showed to the visitors the facilities and the Board’s plans for further development, commected with the local society and sports clubs.

The second Transnational SENS meeting, in Greece, was definitelly a success and we are all waiting for the next one in Croatia