UN Sport Adviser motivates to embrace the millennium goals
Anaheim, USA, September 20, 2012 – The Special Adviser for the
UN Secretary-General on Sport for Development and Peace Mr
Wilfried Lemke opened the second day of the FIVB World Congress
in Anaheim, USA on Thursday, encouraging the volleyball leaders
to convince the governments across the world to do more for
sports at a grassroots level.
“We need to have more sports in our schools and to get our kids
out of the houses,” Lemke said. “Sport is more than moving
around, it is also friendship, communication and can be used as
a vehicle for peace.”
“Exercise is very important and today many kids are only
exercising the muscles around their thumbs playing with computer
devices,” he said. “We need more sports and less computers.”
Mr Lemke, who is from Germany, also mentioned the importance of
the sport for disabled people and the necessity to have more
women in the executive positions.
“We need to integrate more disable people to the practice of
sports and I was elated to watch a sitting volleyball match
during the Paralympics Games in London,” he said. “We have to
bring people with disabilities to the centre of our societies
and avoid exclusion.”
“I would like also to see more women involved in sports as
directors as one of the goals of the millennium is promoting
gender equality and empowering women,” he asserted.
Mr Lemke lauded FIVB for promoting the participation of women in
sports and he referred to a recent reform in the rules of
uniforms in beach volleyball in order to allow the participation
of people who self-excluded for cultural reasons.
He pointed out also that FIVB was the first sport institution
that approached the United Nations to start a partnership to
promote the achievement of the goals of the millennium through
sport and credited President Jizhong Wei for the important
initiative.
“It is very important that you all can become the leaders and
promoters of world peace as the sport has the power to penetrate
all areas,” he said.
He also took the opportunity to congratulate the President of
FIVB on behalf of UN “for his excellent job during his term
taking the FIVB from stormy weather into calmer waters, and also
to welcome the new president who I don’t know yet but will be
one of you.”
He finally praised the organization and venues for volleyball
and beach volleyball during the London Olympic Games and he
confessed he had never seen a beach volleyball game before.
“I loved to be there and you had the best location in the heart
of London at Horse Guards,” he said. “It was to me the best
sport to watch in the Olympics. I was very deep impressed and
you did a marvelous job.” |