The role of academic sport in health promotion - the example of the Academic Sports Association in Poland

Suchecki Kajetan, Sobczyk Karolina, Grajek Mateusz. The role of academic sport in health promotion - the example of the Academic Sports Association in Poland. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2022;12(10):153-161. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/JEHS.2022.12.10.018 https://apcz.umk.pl/JEHS/article/view/40126 https://zenodo.org/record/7178303 The journal has had 40 points in Ministry of Education and Science of Poland parametric evaluation. Annex to the announcement of the Minister of Education and Science of December 21, 2021. No. 32343. Has a Journal's Unique Identifier: 201159. Scientific disciplines assigned: Physical Culture Sciences (Field of Medical sciences and health sciences); Health Sciences (Field of Medical Sciences and Health Sciences). Punkty Ministerialne z 2019 - aktualny rok 40 punktów. Załącznik do komunikatu Ministra Edukacji i Nauki z dnia 21 grudnia 2021 r. Lp. 32343. Posiada Unikatowy Identyfikator Czasopisma: 201159. Przypisane dyscypliny naukowe: Nauki o kulturze fizycznej (Dziedzina nauk medycznych i nauk o zdrowiu); Nauki o zdrowiu (Dziedzina nauk medycznych i nauk o zdrowiu). © The Authors 2022; This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author (s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non commercial license Share alike. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper. Received: 15.09.2022. Revised: 20.09.2022. Accepted: 09.10.2022. The role of academic sport in health promotion - the example of the Academic Sports Association in Poland Kajetan Suchecki1, Karolina Sobczyk2, Mateusz Grajek*3 1 Department of Market and Consumption, Faculty of Economics, University of Economics in Katowice, Poland. ORCID: 0000-0003-4936-8634, kajetan.suchecki@ue.katowice.pl 2 Department of Health Economics and Management, Faculty of Health Sciences in Bytom, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Katowice, Poland. ORCID: 0000-0003-1632-7246, ksobczyk@sum.edu.pl 3 Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences in Bytom, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Katowice, Poland. ORCID: 0000-0001-6588-8598, mgrajek@sum.edu.pl *Correspondence: Matthew Grajek, PhD Piekarska 18 41902 Bytom, Poland mgrajek@sum.edu.pl Abstract Academic sports are physical activities in which members of the academic community participate: students, doctoral students, research, teaching or administrative staff of higher education institutions. The academic community is extremely diverse, but as a rule, it is rarely associated directly with physical activity, but rather with the advancement of knowledge and the development of science. All the more reason why the promotion of physical activity in this community is extremely important for maintaining the psychophysical well-being of members of this group. The AZS is the most numerous academic organization in Poland, with nearly 33,000 members. The Association's Academic Championships of Poland and community leagues are the primary system of rivalry between universities in the country. Among the objectives of AZS are those relating directly or indirectly to the promotion of health, including: the dissemination of physical culture and tourism, raising physical fitness and improving health among the academic community, working for the rehabilitation of the disabled or counteracting social pathologies, particularly addictions that threaten the environment of young students. These goals are pursued through various types of programs and projects, including sports activation of the academic community within the framework of sports sections, especially within the framework of general sports, organized sports competitions both at the university, regional, national or international level. Academic sports are also often the only available opportunity for physical activity during college, where physical education classes usually last no more than a year in the five-year cycle of study. Key words: Academic Sports Association, Poland, Sport, Health Promotion, Public Healt