Watch the video of David Pešek (SANANIM, Czech Republic) about soccer, drugs, faith, honesty, equality, boundaries, relationships, trust, social workers, seven teams, and dozens of fans and spectators.
Harm Reduction Cup Czech Republic 2017
20/5/2017, Prague, Czech Republic
Soccer tournament for the community of drug users and harm reduction workers.
The Harm Reduction Cup is an initiative that emerged from the bottom – one of our clients wanted to do a soccer tournament. I suddenly realised that soccer is a game that lot of people play. I remember from talks with a lot of users that soccer was an important and positive part of their memories and childhood. Addiction is almost always connected to some traumatic experiences in the past, or loneliness, or both. I like the definition of addiction as “deficiency of relationships”.
So soccer is a fun game, and it is also a medium for recalling nice memories. That’s it. That’s probably my purpose behind the whole event.
Another benefit is that Harm Reduction becomes known from this perspective. That it’s not only about public health and general impacts on the population; it’s also and mainly about each individual.
The organisation of the event is all about connection and strengthening relationships. Different NGOs in the Czech Republic cooperate in the organisation, whilst lots of drug users also organise and form soccer teams.
The event was two times bigger than the last one in 2016. So let’s see if the next year we can continue this trend.
Watch here the document of the tournament in 2016.
One team was this year composed of students of addictology field. Here is some information, if you would like to get in touch with them.
Czech Association of Addictology Students, ZS is a voluntary association of university students of addictology operating in the Czech Republic. Its main objectives include unifying addictology students and helping them with their studies and professional career, and collaborating with academics and professionals working in the addiction field in the Czech Republic and abroad. Other goals include working with the professional addictological organisations in the Czech Republic and abroad and promoting the field of addiction. The Association was founded in 2015. It currently holds regular sharing meetings for students and the general public, and participates in the organisation of the conference for primary prevention (PPRCH) and Addictology Prize.
David Pešek, SANANIM
facebook.com/davidpesek0112358
facebook.com/kacko
www.sananim.cz/
www.progressive-os.cz/
