This year, due to the coronavirus threat, many families will choose not to go on holiday. That is why Silesian sports clubs and JSW have decided to move the existing activities for children and youths to the Internet. On 1 June, instead of the annual educational picnic, organized by JSW employees on the International Children’s Day, an Internet platform was launched to support teachers, parents and pupils. Apart from a sound dose of knowledge associated with sciences and ecology, the site offers games, activities and exercise sets which can be done anywhere, without specialist equipment.

– It’s very important for us to continue the New JSW Knowledge Mine program despite the difficult conditions. We focus on promoting knowledge in the area of exact and natural sciences, but this holiday we put emphasis also on physical activity. We are happy that sports clubs were enthusiastic about our proposal and got engaged in the project. As the epidemiological situation in Silesia and entire Poland stabilizes we will expand our efforts focused on children and youths to include other activities, such as semi-stationary camps or workshops - said Artur Wojtków, Vice-President of the JSW Management Board for Employment and Social Policy.

The materials which are systematically published on the program website and social media profiles include exercise sets presented by sportsmen, physiotherapists and coaches.

Thanks to the engagement of different sports disciplines (ice hockey, volleyball, football), each young sports enthusiast will find something for himself or herself. Children and young people will learn about the components of the hockey player’s outfit or what exercises are repeated at every football training session and will be able to take on a challenge proposed by a player and try their hand at, for example, dribbling a puck through a home obstacle course using an improvised hockey stick.

– The time of the pandemic is very difficult for all of us, including sports clubs. Ice hockey games were suspended at the climax point, during the phase deciding about the Championship of Poland.  But this did not mean that our club stopped working. Our coaches conducted online sessions, using their experience and possibilities offered by the Internet. After some time, training for players and children and youths were resumed, both indoors and on the ice rink. We established the Jastrzębie Ice Hockey Academy, which will actively get involved in training children, skating lessons and league games for our youngest followers. Thanks to our sponsors, mainly JSW S.A., we can promote ice hockey and an active lifestyle among our community - says Kazimierz Szynal, President of JKH GKS Jastrzębie.

The materials posted on the platform are an incentive to take care of your physical condition and additional motivation to continue training for young players which could not regularly attend sports classes over the past few months.

– At the times in which we currently function, the JSW Knowledge Mine is an amazing project which promotes physical and intellectual activity among young people. The time of the pandemic and the restrictions it entails have affected this activity. The JSW Foundation’s project strives to fill in this gap and is a great substitute in the present times, and in the future, when we go back to the “normal” life, it will become an even stronger motivator to increase activity among the local community. We, as GKS Jastrzębie, always happily join initiatives of this type - said Dariusz Stanaszek, President of GKS Jastrzębie.

The temporary suspension of the activity of sports clubs, gyms or training sessions was particularly difficult to those who are physically active, including children and youths grouped together around local sports clubs. But motivation and leveraging the possibilities offered by the Internet have helped the young sportsmen not only to obtain virtual support from their sports stars but we also given an unprecedented possibility to interact more closely with the players from professional clubs.  Thanks to the New JSW Knowledge Mine initiative, young fans can train with their favorite players and even find out more about the interests and non-sports passions of professional volleyball, football
and hockey players.

– The New JSW Knowledge Mine initiative is a great form of access to knowledge for our community and entering a higher level in the age of pandemic and in the years to come. It is very important that we devote the time spent at home to development and personal advancement. As they say, “knowledge is power” and both as individuals and as families, we can definitely benefit from this program and invest in our future. JSW has devoted a lot of time to developing this platform for the general public, obtained the support from local entities, sports clubs and communities, and this has strengthened the feeling of belonging and will enable all of us to build a better future - believes Luke Reynolds, Jastrzębski Węgiel coach.

The materials are available both at the project website (https://nowakopalniawiedzy.pl/), and at the project Facebook profile (https://www.facebook.com/KopalniaWiedzyJSW/). Educational films and materials will be published until the end of August.