Every road begins somewhere. A road to sport usually starts with a dream. It is this early hard-to-recall moment when a childhood desire is born for a young human being willing to follow the paths of Michael Jordans, Leo Messis or Tom Bradys of this world.
It has probably started like that for every single member of our organization. We all had dreams of becoming professional athletes. And even though we might have not been able to reach them as initially envisioned, we have never stopped believing that our roads to sports are worth following. Up till this day we keep chasing our dreams even if they are now in bit different dimensions. And we are not going to stop.
As for the organization, the Road to Sport has formally started operating with the beginning of 2018. It was born from courage and the cornerstones are in 4 values set for the company’s construction. Two years might sound like a short period of time, but we feel like it has already been a long road travelled. Even though there are still unknows, doubts and some fears on the way, there is also much faith, hope, fun and excitement which forces us to continue this journey moving forward.
Year 2020 was coming with high expectations. Some of our seeds were becoming to blossom and the future has been looking bright. We had already established a strong structure and our team was ready to roll. Everybody knows what happened next. The unexpected arrived and all the plans were washed away from the ground. The Covid-19 pandemic has struck not only us, but whole industries of sports and travel.
It’s difficult to remain positive while things are turning so dark, but rather than searching excuses, we have decided to use this time as an opportunity for reevaluation. We see this period as a Timeout but instead of taking a break, we have kept pushing ourselves further, at first by having some reflections on what it was and then trying to envision of what it will be. Here is to summarize the former as the prelude to the latter.
One undeniable achievement from the first 2-plus years of our activity is building a strong and wide network of partners from around the world. It has resulted not only in creation of new relationships but has also generated a common trust being built inside many of them. We are now proud of having reliable partnerships with people and organizations from most European regions, that include those on the continent's far ends, from Estonia to Portugal and from Norway to Italy. And it even goes beyond, as we have friends and partners doing amazing things in sports in the United States, Brazil or the Middle East and it keeps expanding.
Working as an agent we are partners to the world’s largest and most spectacular youth international tournaments. The Gothia Cup and Dana Cup both offer unforgettable experiences with thousand of clubs from over the globe visiting them every year. In 2020 all tournaments have been cancelled cause of the pandemic but they should be back next year. Apart from two previously mentioned, we have also had teams booked for the Reval Cup in Tallinn or the highly anticipated first edition of the Laola Cup in Hamburg. As an out-bounding agency we were also able to send a Polish team for a training camp in Prague, which was quite an experience for the boys from the club which name goes hand in hand with our values – the “TEAM SPIRIT”.
As nice as it is to open doors for young people on their roads to discover the world outside Poland, it is also a high privilege to host groups from abroad willing to visit our country. Thanks to close relationship with our partners from OLKA Sportresor, last year we hosted Swedish track&field athletes and swimmers for their training camps organized by us both in southern and northern regions of Poland. This year apart from Sweden we have also had groups from Norway and Iceland already booked, with further interest coming from countries like Malta, the Middle East and Germany. The variety of options is still growing with new venues and attractive destinations being added to the offer, so we expect more groups coming when the borders are open again.
Sometimes the directions for roads to follow are not set by a design. In some cases it’s rather a destiny or a bit of luck if someone prefers such explanation. That was exactly what happened when the employees of Procter&Gamble came to us with an inquiry about helping with their annual Football World Cup organization. A corporate sport was actually not a road which we had planned to follow, but that was a kind of an opportunity one cannot miss.
The organization of the event for almost 800 people from all over the world was an invaluable experience. Considering that for us it was the first project executed independently, it was also a great confidence booster for members of a young company needing a chance to prove themselves. We met the challenge but we did not stop there. Less than a year after the P&G event, we took care of another fun-to-be-part-of project for the Santander Bank Polska, this time in a form of a team-building event in a sports way. In 2020 we have been receiving inquiries from huge banking and retail corporations asking for help in organization of sporting festivals for their employees. It has all been put on hold now, but we live with a hope that corporate events will be running again sooner rather than later.
There are many different roads leading towards satisfaction, but nothing brings more joy than having something fully designed, planned and accomplished by yourself. Something that belongs to you. And that’s the case with our own TEAM UP! Sports Games project. The idea of organizing games for various companies was born after the P&G World Cup. The mission is to give employees of different types of organizations an unique opportunity to use their talents and compete against each other. It started with a single event with 3 sports disciplines in our hometown Wrocław, just to have it expanded for 3 cities and 9 sports the following year. The virus has spoiled our plans however, as we have been forced to cancel all this year’s events and begin rebuilding for 2021.
As one can read from the summary above, our Road to Sport is not one-dimensional. It has something to offer for both youth and for adults. Our goal is actually to help people of all age to find their roads to sport. We have been taking small steps on the way as "there are no shortcuts to any place worth going" citing the legendary opera-singer Beverly Sills. The pandemic has slowed us down a little bit, but it has also given us an opportunity to refocus and to search for new directions. And we might have found new ways already which should be explored in the near future. We keep pushing forward and enjoying our road as it is a journey and not a destination that matters afterall.