The inaugural Sport and Education program marked a success

In July 2024 the over-a-decade-long collaboration between the Center for Hellenic Studies (CHS) and the International Olympic Academy (IOA) brought forth a new academic initiative that explored the connection between sport and education. This initiative is titled “Sport and Education Program: from Ancient Olympia to the Present” and its inaugural cycle took place at the premises of the Academy between July 9 and July 12, 2024.

Apart from the two long-time collaborators, the Sport and Education Program 2024 was also co-organized by the Region of Western Greece and was held in cooperation with the University of Patras and the Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sport at the University of Texas at Austin. It received additional support from the AEGEAS Non-Profit Civil Company.

The new program’s academic director is Charles Stocking, Associate Professor at the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education of the University of Texas at Austin, and Associate of Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies. Peter Miller (University of Winnipeg), Heather Reid (Exedra Mediterranean Center), and Angela Schneider (University of Western Ontario) also joined as faculty, along with Alexandra Kalogera, the Women's Water Polo Team Manager of Olympiacos Piraeus who was a guest presenter. Mark Schiefsky, Director of the Center for Hellenic Studies and C. Lois P. Grove Professor of the Classics at Harvard, was also present during the first half of the program.

The Sport and Education Program was designed to address the gap in understanding sport and education as two sides of a spectrum instead of different from or sometimes in conflict with one another. It builds up from the basis that sport shaped ancient models of knowledge, and in turn, the ancient athletic-knowledge complex, known as paideia, served as a model for modern universities and professional sports. To achieve this approach, an innovative educational method of limited preliminary readings, small group seminars structured for prioritizing dialogue, and faculty-led sessions to the local site of Ancient Olympia and its two museums was employed. In this context, the program departed structurally from its predecessor CHS-IOA collaborating activity, the “Sports, Society, and Culture” Symposia. Despite the challenge that comes with such transition, the implementation of the 2024 initiative has been crowned with success.

The 2024 program welcomed, in total, 39 undergraduate and postgraduate students who were selected based on their academic standing, while their demonstrated affiliation with athletics, either by practicing a sport or by having dedicated part of their research in relevant fields, was also taken into consideration in many cases. As a result, the body of students was diverse, with their ages ranging from 20 to 51 years old and with various academic backgrounds, which included classics, physical education, engineering, and management. Despite these differences, or maybe because of them, the seminar discussions were lively and productive, whereas out-of-class interactions were all-encompassing and fun: the honest evidence of an outstanding pilot year for the program.

The students attended intensive daily seminars which took place either in class or with the format of experiential learning sessions in the archaeological site and museums. Daily group meals and leisure or sports activities in the state-of-the-art facilities of the IOA fostered a strong sense of community and enhanced the learning experience.

Most students came from Greek universities (in alphabetical order): the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Democritus University of Thrace, the Hellenic Open University, the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, the Universities of the Aegean, Crete, Ioannina, Patras, the Peloponnese, Piraeus, and Thessaly, all were represented in the program by their students. For the first time in the context of a CHS-IOA collaborating initiative, two Harvard student-athletes were also part of the cohort, along with two students from the University of Texas at Austin.

Our Center funded a major part of the participation of the two Harvard undergraduates, with the scope of introducing the CHS-IOA initiative to Harvard Athletics, enriching the rapport of CHS with Harvard in the same context, and developing the conditions for future student-athletes of the University to be offered this opportunity of a study-abroad program that focuses on and expands with innovative academic approach their relation to sport.

Another component of this year’s program was the recording of interviews between the present academics to be used as source material for an open-access content library which will develop around the Sport and Education program. A professional videographer sponsored by the University of Patras traveled to Olympia and worked with faculty and administrations to this end.

CHS and IOA would like to extend their appreciation to all participants and their delight for their presence and active engagement. The organizers are also ever grateful to the contributing institutions, faculty, and sports professionals for their effective collaboration.

After this year’s success, the organizers are now gearing towards the future of the Sport and Education Program: discussions on its further development and the contribution of additional institutions are well underway, with announcements about its future forthcoming during the new academic year.