Semmelweis University and the Hungarian Water Polo Association have signed a long-term cooperation framework agreement aimed at keeping the sport at a high international level and providing the necessary scientific background and high-quality sports health services required to meet this goal.
Under the agreement, Semmelweis University will provide high-quality, complex, comprehensive health care services to the members of the adult (A and B) and youth national teams. A priority area is continuous health checkups for national team members, as well as establishing the health care background for safe sports activities through regular, arranged screening examinations. Under the agreement, the university and the association will jointly formulate and make more efficient the infrastructure background and treatment conditions of diagnosing the acute health problems (illnesses, injuries) of team members, and establish the requirements for priority, immediate treatment. In order to prevent injuries, they will also work out and build into the daily practice routine the adequate prevention strategies. Athletes will take part every three months in sports examinations, performance diagnostic laboratory tests, and on-track measurements in performance physiology. The agreement also covers creating a system of protocols for the rehabilitation of injured athletes and guiding them back into competitive sports.
“Semmelweis University’s task is to secure the background for success in sports; we are responsible for the health of our athletes,” emphasized rector Dr. Béla Merkely, adding that this affects all of the university’s departments. He noted that Semmelweis University has the highest quality of education and training, and he also feels it is important to send the message to students that there is no better form of prevention than pursuing sports. He pointed out that as part of the curriculum reform taking place from September, the two-semester sports medicine training course will be introduced, as well as – as the only university so far in Hungary – physical education for the entire duration of university studies at every faculty. The rector added that it is very important for the doctors and health care professionals of the future to deal not only with the curing of patients, but prevention and maintaining the quality of life as well, what’s more, set an example in this regard. Dr. Béla Merkely also has a personal connection to water polo, as he took up the sport when he was a student and still plays in the university’s water polo team. He noted that at the main entrance of the university’s central building, he sees every day the memorial plaque bearing the names of Olympic gold medal-winners who graduated from the medical university, most of whom were water polo players.
Attila Vári, the president of the Hungarian Water Polo Association, said at the press conference held on the occasion of the signing of the agreement that water polo in Hungary was always based on intellectual foundations, and in the sport they take seriously the slogan of “learn and teach.” He expressed his pleasure that Semmelweis University will provide a scientific background to the work they have already started both for adults and younger children who play the sport, thus the institution’s facilities, achievements and scientific activity will help support the association’s future goals. During the course of the cooperation, special attention will be paid to following a sports diet, and they will also lay the foundations for educating trainers and athletes.
This is the second framework agreement this year that Semmelweis University signed with a sports association. As we reported earlier, the university signed a cooperation agreement in March with the Hungarian Swimming Association, with the goal of providing a complex health services background to swimmers on the Hungarian national team. Similar agreements with other sports associations are also currently in the pipeline.
Krisztina Tőgyi
Translation: Tamás Deme
Photo: Attila Kovács – Semmelweis University
