Team 100 – Ministry of Sport and Tourism and the Polish National Foundation ([Polska Fundacja Narodowa – PFN ) program to support promising young athletes

Source https://www.msit.gov.pl/en/

Ministry of Sport and Tourism of the Republic of Poland

http://www.msit.gov.pl/en/news/7378,Kick-off-time-for-team100-

31.07.2017

Kick-off time for team100! The Ministry of Sport and Tourism and the Polish National Foundation invest in young athletes

team100 is a programme of the Ministry of Sport and Tourism and the Polish National Foundation [Polska Fundacja Narodowa – PFN], initiated by Minister Witold Bańka. Its main aim is to support promising young Polish athletes.

The Polish National Foundation and the Ministry of Sport and Tourism have presented an innovative programme of financial support to young promising athletes, entitled team100. This original project, involving direct support for a hundred talented athletes, was developed on the initiative of the Minister of Sport and Tourism, thanks to the Founders of the Polish National Foundation and in cooperation with the Institute of Sport.

team100 is a programme of the Polish National Foundation [Polska Fundacja Narodowa – PFN] and the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, developed on the initiative of Minister Witold Bańka. The main aim of the programme is to support promising young Polish athletes - members of national teams, who, in addition to training under the auspices of their respective sports associations, will receive additional individual funding. A sum of PLN 4 million is to be provided each year by the PFN. Each athlete will annually receive about PLN 40 thousand. The funds are to be spent on development and improvement of skills of promising athletes aged 18 to 23.

- The Polish National Foundation is an organization established to initiate and implement projects aimed at promoting our country and Polish values abroad. Young athletes who will receive support through the Foundation may become great Ambassadors of Poland in the world by coupling sports achievements with fair play. An investment in the young generation is an investment in Poland and Poles. Therefore, the team100 programme fits perfectly the mission of the PFN which is to promote our Homeland – emphasised Prime Minister Beata Szydło.

-“.. team100 is a programme targeting talented athletes who will become our sports elite in the next few years. The programme is structured so as to support the athlete in the field of training and competition but also to teach him/her to be responsible and to deal with difficult situations outside of sports. We want to test the effectiveness of this model which eliminates redundant intermediaries in the distribution of sponsorship funds and teaches young athletes to effectively invest in their careers. The money will reach the athletes directly, bypassing the sports associations, thanks to the PFN and to State-Owned Companies, who will support the gifted young people, following the Sponsorship Good Practice Code” – said Minister of Sport and Tourism Witold Bańka.

- Sport brings people together. We are proud to have been invited by the Ministry of Sport and Tourism to fund the unique team100 programme. We are counting on young people who are determined to win, who want to promote Polish values and to be ambassadors of Polishness all over the world – added Cezary Andrzej Jurkiewicz, President of the Polish National Foundation.

team100 kicks off in July 2017. It is the first such project in Poland, targeting athletes who practise individual summer and winter Olympic sports within the framework of the youth sports system and who are members of national teams of Polish sports associations.

Thanks to financial support from the Polish National Foundation, a hundred talented athletes will be able to reconcile their sports careers with education and improvement of professional skills.

Young athletes selected for the team100 programme by the Institute of Sport undertook to respect the “team100 Participant Code”. The 10 provisions of the Code include, among others, respect for national symbols and care for the good name of Poland. The athletes are to be ambassadors of Polishness around the world and as such are obliged to show dignified behaviour. Doping or unethical behaviour will result in automatic exclusion from the programme.

The Institute of Sport, which is supervised by the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, is the technical partner of team100. The Institute is responsible, among others, for selecting the athletes for the programme, auditing disbursements and monitoring sports achievements.

- After a year, we will review both the sports results and the efficiency of expenditures – said Dr Piotr Żmijewski, Deputy Director for Research and Development of the Institute of Sport.

Under the programme, the athletes may decide themselves on how to spend the funds to cover eligible costs such as those of services of physiotherapists, doctors, dieticians, psychologists, the purchase of dietary supplements or the university fees.

Each expenditure will have to be properly documented. Accounts will be settled directly with each athlete, helping them learn how to rationally and efficiently manage their careers.

More information on the team100 programme is available at: www.pfn.org.pl and www.msit.gov.pl.

The Polish National Foundation was established by seventeen largest Polish companies in order to promote and protect the image of the Republic of Poland. The members of the Polish

  

National Foundation include: PGE, Enea, Energa, Tauron, PZU, PKO BP, Giełda Papierów Wartościowych, Totalizator Sportowy, PGNiG, PKN Orlen, Grupa Lotos, KGHM, Grupa Azoty, Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa, Polska Wytwórnia Papierów Wartościowych, Polski Holding Nieruchomości and Polskie Koleje Państwowe.

The Institute of Sport is a research institute subordinate to the Minister of Sport and Tourism. It was established under Prime Minister’s Regulation no. 60 of 4 November 1977 as an independent scientific institution. The Institute operates as a research institute, pursuant to the Act on Research Institutes of 30 April 2010.