Pécs had great success at the 2024 Medical Cup and brought home the winner’s traveling trophy from Debrecen. The success was based on a completely new strategy developed with the leadership of Tamás Téczely. The Pécs Medical School offers an excellent opportunity for sports, supported with a Sport Scholarship since 2023.
Written by Hanga Kovács
Tamás Téczely has worked at the university in service of sports for 33 years, in 13 of these years he was also the director of the Sports and Physical Education Center. Since he has a lot of experience, dr. Miklós Nyitrai, dean of the Pécs Medical School has asked him to be the head of the newly founded Medical Cup Committee. Members also include Gergely Lukács water polo coach, Attila Németh physical education teacher and Martin Pénzes, head of the Medical School’s Student Council. The goal of establishing the committee was to make the Medical Cup a brand at the university for both students and educators, and also to motivate more students for sports and participation at the Cup to ensure the best possible results.
“We have based our strategy on the “learning, sport, health” motto, and created a pyramid” – said Tamás Téczely. “The base of the pyramid is made up of athletes, groups preparing for the Medical Cup, fans and cheerleaders, since the event is about them, and without them we cannot succeed. The next level is for coaches, who have prepared the teams for the event with great knowledge and enthusiasm. Above them are the sports associations (PEAC, Medical SE), followed by the Medical Cup Committee and their appointed persons for each type of sport. The next level is the UP MS Sports and Physical Education Center, who have greatly supported the work of the committee, followed by the UP MS Student Council. The top of the pyramid is the dean’s leadership, whose continuous communication has also helped us succeed.”
Tamás Téczely has also explained that after coming up with the strategy, their next step was finding and appointing coaches and assistant coaches and ensuring that there would be sufficient training locations. The committee has asked coaches to include community building and team building exercises aside from sports preparations. The committee has prepared detailed work and task plans for the members of various levels.
Preparations had to be planned for two training sessions per week. The committee has also included various motivational elements into the program. The most appealing of these was the sports scholarship that determined the commission athletes could get based on the ratio of trainings, and how many sessions they attended in the season. The committee has also come up with a success rate remuneration, based on what result the team had – there was no renumeration for fourth place. Athletes were given free access to a gym and massages, and received an allotment for buying new sports shoes, and they could also keep their sports attire after the cup as a memento. The committee is also supporting various community building programs: the dinners after trainings, and competitions where athletes could relax and get to know each other better, in a less formal way.
How will they build until 2026, the date of the Medical Cup in Pécs?
Based on what Tamás Téczely said, the strategy used in 2024 will remain. The pyramid will continue to be the base, but they also want to use the experiences gained in the first year and include elements that could be improved into the preparations. They will also analyse and compile the reports made by coaches, further supporting the work to be done.
The Sports Scholarship provides monetary and mental support
The teams mostly made up of medical students representing Pécs at the Medical Cup are supplemented by students from the Faculty of Pharmacy and the Faculty of Health Sciences. Students who wish to participate in sports are financially and mentally supported by the Sports Scholarship established in 2023 in connection with the Medical Cup. The scholarship can be granted to students who qualifies to participate in the Medical Cup and participates in the group trainings. Renumeration is provided to those who have not made it into the final travel group. The success prize is only given to those team members and coaches who have provided goof results – pointed out the head of the Medical Cup Committee.
He added, that the main goal of establishing the new strategy and the Sports Scholarship was winning the Medical Cup in 2026 as well. This year’s victory has placed the bar high, and they are working to keep their spot on the top of the imaginary podium.
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UnivTV