The NEP participated in the conference organized by the “Peloponnisos” journalistic organization at the “My Way” hotel and presented its own opinions and proposals on how sports can strengthen the local economy. In his presentation, NEP swimming director and vice-president of the KOE Regional Committee Spyros Chrysanthakopoulos spoke regarding the events hosted by the club in Patras, while he once once more raised the issue of the lack of nautical facilities. The proposal of the NEP representative in detail:
“The sports association Nauthletiki Union of Patras (NEP) originates from the merger of two sports associations of the city of Patras, A.O. TRIAMVO PATRON (founded in 1976) and A.O. POSEIDONA OF PATRA (founded in 1982). This merger was successfully carried out in the year 2005, by the Boards of Directors of the two associations, which were experienced sports players, whose main vision and goal was the creation of strong regional teams in the wet track of the country, both in water polo and in swimming (classical and synchronized). Along the way, the chess and badminton (Badminton) sections were also created. He has 12 coaches and at least 800 active tickets in all the departments he cultivates. In swimming, it is the only club in the Region that has 5 children in the Pre-National teams and 9 children in the program of Selected athletes (age up to 13 years) KOE and many calls in all levels of age categories in water polo. Already at this moment we have one of our athletes in the pole with the National Youth K18 team at the World Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina, one of our athletes in Manisa, Turkey for the World Championships for Girls K16 and another one of our athletes at the Pan European Junior Swimming Championships – Juniors in Vilnius, Lithuania. Now regarding the theme of the conference, NEP always tries to organize competitions with the help of the Region and the Municipal Authority, which bring people and money to the region. It has been consistently organizing the Christmas Swimming Cup for 30 years with the participation of many teams from all over the country. In fact, in the pre-Covid era there were events that exceeded a thousand entries, while it has occasionally brought to the city the final stages of pan-Hellenic championships in development categories (Boys-Girls, Boys-Girls, Teenagers-Juniors), both in swimming and in polo with the what this entails in the local economy (missions-parents who follow in hotels, restaurants, cafes, even shops during the break from the games). And for the sake of truth, let me tell you that towards the end of the month we are organizing the final phase of Mini Girls (Final-12) with the participation of 11 teams from the rest of Greece. In all of these, of course, brakes are the issue of infrastructure in our city (at least as far as the athletics sports which is the main activity of our team). Our city, although the third largest city in Greece, actually has only one swimming pool to host matches, tournaments and even preparations for teams that wish to come to our area. The open swimming pool of Akti Dymaion serves the needs of a single group and always weather permitting (maximum 4- to maximum 5 months a year), since the main pool remains closed most of the time due to lack of heating in contrast to the other swimming pools countries which, despite being open, operate all year round. Even the private swimming pools that have been built in recent years in our city and the corresponding associations that have been created, as soon as their athletes reach the age of 10 and are looking for something more than just learning to swim, they inevitably go up to swimming pool A .Pepanos which is the only one that exists and has difficulty serving so many needs. So how is it possible to fit the 6 teams our district currently has, find the routes and times (considering everyone wants following 2:30pm when school ends) and make everyone happy? And how is it possible with the limited space to be able to request and bring to the city events that will strengthen the local economy, when logically the unions themselves that are based in the city can’t even fit? We hoped that with the declarations of the former Deputy Minister of Sports Mr. Avgenakis and during the first period of the five-year term of office of the Region of Western Greece, as well as the memorandums of cooperation that had been signed with the relevant Ministries, that a solution would be given to the chronic problem of the former swimming pool Agyias that would facilitate and serve the maximum. Unfortunately, there is nothing tangible, except for the fencing of the old pool, which I don’t know if it still exists or if some of the Roma groups that occasionally reside there have torn it down. We hope and wish, according to what we heard today from Mr. Deputy Regional Governor, that in the second term of the Regional Authority there will be a positive development and that the project will finally be created which will be a solution to the problems of the liquid element and will offer the possibility to undertake more and bigger events which will be a field of development and bring the flourishing of the local economy to the level it can and should be”.
The NEP congratulates the organizers of the conference and pledges to be “present” in any similar effort. All the opinions that were heard were extremely interesting and through the cooperation of all the sports forces of our region and the organizations, the sports of our region will offer development and prosperity to the local community as well.
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