Courtesy: Szabolcs Birkás / Hungarian Swimming Federation
Are accreditation cards with lanyards a must-have for sports events? Could the following approach be a small step to make events greener?
As part of the future OC team of the World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m) to be held in Budapest between 10-15th December 2024, the Hungarian Swimming Federation had the pleasure to attend the World Aquatics Championships in Doha earlier this year. As part of the observer program, we had a nice conversation with the accreditation team (María Peralvo Simón, Lorenzo Tarenghi, Juan Manuel, Sarria Pastor, Jovana Zrnzevic) of World Aquatics when we came up with the idea to produce smaller-sized (matching the parameters of a business card) accreditation cards, which could be put in the back of the cell phone case.
Last week we organized the Hungarian Swimming National Trials, where we tested this concept. Even if not everyone has a transparent cell phone case, the idea was well received, it was easy to use and naturally it was always at hand. One of our swimmers proposed to make a sticker version, as some people do not use cell phone case, while others have colorful (so not transparent) types.
We understand that in the case of more complex events (continental or even World Championships, multisport events) this version might not always be a fitting solution for all the different user groups (e.g. athletes, OC staff/volunteers, contractors, VIP guests, etc.) BUT we believe that there is always room for improvement and innovation, especially if there is a sustainable component involved.
As the signatory of the Sports4Nature framework the Hungarian Swimming Federation is devoted to make our planet greener and our waters cleaner.
Should you have any suggestions what an office space/sporting event organizer could do for the planet, we appreciate any further ideas. As a Sports4Nature signatory we are eager to learn and share best practices which have a sustainable component.
credit Szabolcs Birkás : Hungarian Swimming Federation 2
The Hungarian Swimming Federation was also diligent in collecting recycling from the National Championships in April, ensuring that lunch boxes could be reused for families in need and paper sent to schools. The federation is the first and only swimming/aquatics federation that is a signatory for the Sports for Nature framework.