Slovenia aims to bring “the whole population to a high level of physical and motor development”

The Faculty of Sport in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, trains all physical education teachers in this small country of two million inhabitants which often makes the headlines in sports newspapers around the world. It is the strategic place of a policy of sporting excellence where Professor Gregor Stark manages the data from the tests of the schools of “Switzerland of the Balkans”.

A centralized system set up for forty years: “That’s the data on the physical performance of all children in the country. We see that in the 1990s, it decreased for both boys and girls. This corresponds to the arrival of the Internet at home… “ he explains to the magazine “We the Europeans” (replay) in front of a very detailed graph.

“We only have 220,000 children between the ages of six and eighteen”

The researcher has access to data from all schools in this country which has hatched many champions in many disciplines: “We have the results for each test and the child’s national ranking scored on a scale of zero to one hundred.” Surprisingly, the purpose of this evaluation system is not to focus on the best: “Our goal is to bring the entire population to a high level of physical and motor development.”

“If all children have abilities, at some point, talents will eventually emerge. Some will choose the path of sport. We only have 220,000 children between the ages of six and eighteen. We are not China, which has millions. We must take care of each of them so that they grow up healthy and can express their full potential.” says Gregor Stark.

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