Sporting Spirit in Dolno Kojnare Community
 |
Soccer Tournament at
New Playground
in Dolno Kojnare |
On 1-4 May, 2003, the multiethnic community of Dolno Kojnare
village, Kumanovo Municipality, held a soccer tournament
at the USAID/CSHI-funded playground in their community. The
residents raised $2000.00 through their own initiative, to
fund this event. Sixteen teams from Skopje and Kumanovo participated
in the tournament that was supported by more than 1200spectators.
A star guest appearance was made by Vujadin Stanojkovic,
one of the best-ever defense players in the former Yugoslavia,
who played in the 1980’s and 90’s.
The playground
where the tournament was held was revitalized through a USAID/CSHI
project in collaboration with the Dolno
Kojnare Sport Department in Kumanovo, and local sports enthusiasts.
Prior to the implementation of this project, the youth of
Dolno Kojnare and surrounding neighborhoods used to risk
injury by playing with broken equipment and damaged asphalt
surfaces. The project involved replacing the old and broken
sports equipment with new equipment, painting the goal posts,
laying new asphalt surfaces, marking the playground surfaces
with courts, providing stands, fences, and lighting (total
cost $23,747). Fifteen (15) young people volunteered their
time and labor to complete these works. The objective of
the project was to raise awareness and interest in sports
and recreation, and provide a safe place to play. The beneficiaries
of this project are the 3,000 multiethnic residents of Dolno
Kojnare (45% Macedonian, 30% Serbian, 10% Albanian and 15%
Roma).
This project is a fine example of what can be achieved
through the strong will, hope and self-organization of community
groups. The community of Dolno Kojnare continues its collaborative
sporting initiatives with plans for a second tournament on
June 28th, and two tournaments each year in the future.
The
greatest benefit that this project-playground has brought
to the young people of Dolno Kojnare is the chance to spend
their spare-time enjoying and developing their skills in
sports and recreational activities. As one member of the
initiative board (Dragan Kuzmanovski) said: “We live
for this playground, this is the most used sport field in
Kumanovo, there no other place in whole region where you
can’t find people that play soccer during the day and
the night”.
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