Tsvetozar Hristov
"PERSISTENCY IS KEY"
If I have to introduce myself in three sentences - I am Tsvetozar Hristov and I am a table tennis referee. I organize and conduct competitions in this sport. I have refereed at many Olympic Games, World and European Championships and World Cups. My relationship with sport is a relation of love and dedication, which led me throughout all my life since I was a little child.
The THREE valuable qualities that sport has taught me are:
- Discipline - it helps me achieve my goals personally and professionally
- Integrity - I set a good example for my children and others around me
- Consistency - I treat everyone the same, according to the rules of the sport
The (sport) values I do teach the children and young athletes I work with:
- I teach them to be persistent, to finish what they start and to do it in the timeframe they have promised or set
- I teach them to be responsible and to complete the tasks given to them as they are trained
- I teach them to be honest, not to abuse their position and not to accept unauthorized benefits from it
- I have acquired all of these values from my home upbringing, from what I have learned from the Education System, and from the training I have participated in as a table tennis referee and as an employee of the companies I have worked for.
I think that additional training needs to be provided to coaches on how to teach the values of sport. It should include the codes of conduct of World Organizations and federations. In addition, I think every coach should know the latest rule changes, in the respective sport.
One of the most important topics for me is the discrimination – not only n sport, but in the workplace, in schools, on the streets, in the family, in the politics. And the EU sport diplomacy can be used to solve such issues. I think that EU sport diplomacy is the only way to do something TODAY against it.
There have to be the rule of law respected – same as the respect of rules in the sport.
What more should the European Union do to encourage more young people to embrace sport as a way of life?
- Demonstrate clearly and openly the benefits of sport and physical activity, for example, as a way of combating overweight and obesity
- To show sporting activities as a way of improving citizens' fitness and wellbeing, their mental health and work-life balance.
I often remember the words of Pierre de Coubertin, the "father" of the modern Olympic Games, considered sporting events to be an important tool for promoting human rights. Given that sport has such a function, how can we use it? How do I see the relationship between sport and human rights?
Sport promotes gender equality and includes disadvantaged people by providing them with opportunities to compete in the world's biggest forums - Paralympics, Special Olympics Deaflympics, etc. Here I come back again to the issue of discrimination, as a matter of unfairness and inequality, and this is something the EU sport diplomacy has the power to overcome.
I would like to see a sport world where the heads of the international sports organizations equalize the conditions of participation and the prize money, for men and women.