Over 300 students received their diplomas at the graduation ceremony of Semmelweis University’s Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences on July 13.As in previous years, most of the students majored in Physical Education and Coaching. The conferment of the 2013 Master Coach Awards took place at the ceremony as well.
During his speech, Vice-Rector for Clinical Affairs Dr. János Gál advised the graduates not to be discouraged by occasional difficult circumstances or by belated appreciation. “Satisfaction and happiness can only be achieved if you accomplish your tasks with responsibility and through very high standards, as you were taught”.
The Master Coach Awards were conferred by Dr. István Simicskó, minister of state for Sport and Youth; László Fábián, director of Sports of the Hungarian Olympic Committee; and Dr. László Ormai, president of the Hungarian Coaching Association’s Society of Master Coaches. Balázs Virth, who coached Olympic and world champion Dániel Gyurta, was among the awardees this year.
Dean of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences Dr. Zsolt Radák reminded the students that the institution was established in 1925, upon the initiative of Cultural Minister Kuno Klebelsberg, who also played a role in drawing later Nobel laureate Albert Szentgyörgyi back to Hungary. Daily exercise was mandatory in Szentgyörgyi’s Szeged laboratory, which he deemed so important that once he even spoke up in parliament in favour of the subject. Dean Radák highlighted that this notion was finally realized this year, as daily physical education classes are now mandatory in schools. He drew the graduates’ attention to this fact, telling them that thus they were in the right place at the right time.
Before concluding the ceremony, Dr. János Gál added that, as a clinical doctor, he wished that there be more sports-related injuries to treat, rather than cases of hypertension, stroke, and heart attack.
Emese Nagy
Translated by Bonifac Makkai
