Topic: 2025-Safeguarding and Promoting Traditional Sports and Games
Country: Slovenia
Delegate Name: Owen Baar
Committee: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Country: Republic of Slovenia
School: Grand Haven High School
Author: Owen Baar
Topic A: Safeguarding and Promoting Traditional Sports and Games
Cultures around the world all have traditions of games, food, literature, and illustrations, shaped by geography and history. Sports and games are one such category that shows the identity of the people, showing how they view each other, the world around them, and what success is. Slovenia’s own sports culture shows how the modern world has affected sports. Globalization has seen new sports take hold of Slovenia’s population and become quite popular, but this also poses a risk to Slovenia’s own style of sports and even its traditional games.
Sports have always reflected their society, and remained local or regional for a long time, but colonialism spread sports by conforming colonies to their own culture. Such activity suppressed traditional sports and games, replacing it with popular sports today. Large conflicts like the World Wars also changed sports, with Slovenia’s sports, mostly mountainous, Germanized when they were occupied (Pavlin). After WWII and the creation of the UN, UNESCO was soon made, brought together by leaders imagining an organization that would use education, science, and culture to bring about peace (“Our history”). With the increase of connectivity and globalization, traditional games have the ability to be recorded, remembered, and even gain in popularity, but it can also become insignificant, as urbanization and social media reinforces a world culture. Later in the early 2000s, the Charter of Traditional Games and Sports was formed, as countries recognized the importance of sports in local communities, and how they should be protected and promoted (“Traditional Sports”).
To support participation in TSGs, individual countries can promote recreational areas for popular and traditional games alike. Education about TSGs in schools and coaches and staff in gyms or other physical activity centers that teach traditional sports in order to encourage their usage. Another way is to incorporate TSGs into the Olympics or other international sports organizations. To safeguard traditional games, sports museums and websites can record how the game is played, its history, and other relevant details, keeping the sport alive into the future.
Slovenia recognizes that games are an important part of their culture, with many people in their country enthusiasts of sports, and even housing top Olympic athletes, holding Slovenia near the top of medals per capita (“Sport is part”). Slovenia has many different unique styles of established sports, adapting gymnastics and skiing to fit their unique culture (Pavlin). Slovenia also hosts TSGs like pandolo, a Slovenian sport (“Slovenia – Panolo”). Acknowledging the widespread physical activity of its citizens, Slovenia provides physical education and state-of-the-art recreational centers, such as gyms, to its citizens, which are normally provided subsidies from local committees (“Slovenian Sporting”). Museums are also another useful way to record sporting history, and can be used as a source of income via tourism as well (Pavlin). In order to promote TSGs, Slovenia believes that countries should use their model, and establish gyms and educational programs to keep TSGs a part of the vibrant culture they represent.
Works Cited
“Our history.” UNESCO, https://www.unesco.org/en/brief/history. Accessed 13 February 2025.
Pavlin, Tomaz. “Slovenia’s sporting heritage.” Slovenia.si, 24 September 2020, https://slovenia.si/this-is-slovenia/slovenias-sporting-heritage#:~:text=Slovenia%20has%20a%20long%20tradition,development%20of%20modern%20national%20sports. Accessed 13 February 2025.
“Slovenian Sporting Success Explained.” I feel Slovenia, https://www.slovenia.info/en/press-centre/press-releases/10125-slovenian-sporting-success-explained. Accessed 13 February 2025.
“Slovenia – Pandolo.” Europe Is Not Dead!, 10 June 2019, https://europeisnotdead.com/slovenia-pandolo/. Accessed 13 February 2025.
“Sport is part of our national identity and culture.” Sport et citoyennete, 10 July 2023, https://www.sportetcitoyennete.com/en/articles-en/sport-is-part-of-our-national-identity-and-culture. Accessed 13 February 2025.
“Traditional Sports and Games.” UNESCO, https://www.unesco.org/en/sport-and-anti-doping/traditional-sports-and-games. Accessed 13 February 2025.
