SpotFest

Article by Ninia Tsiklauri  

Edited by Eli Khokhiashvili

Source GZAAT Gazette

SportFest, one of the biggest sports festivals in Georgia, was held on September 21-22. The festival started at 12:00 pm and ended at 8:00 pm. People of all ages could attend and experience the sports presented such as, football, basketball, skateboarding, gymnastics, zumba, kendo, volleyball and much more. They could try on the uniforms and use equipment which was suited for the specific sport. In some cases they could participate in sports challenges and were offered prizes.

Irina Egadze is the official head-organizer of this large-scale event. The first ever SportFest was held in 2022. “ I think the idea came from the fact that it's a necessary event that was not yet in our country. It’s also special because it benefits everyone, the organizers, the guests, the sports organizations and the country itself,” said Irina.

This September was SportFests fifth event. It's tradition to host SportFest two times a year, in summer and in autumn. All the organizations that Irina and her teammates have connections with and that are related to sports are invited. Part of what makes this festival unique is how interactive it is. Guests are not there to just look at certain stands or performances. They get to try out various sports in real life

“We hope to promote sports for everyone. We have all kinds of resources to make a kid, teenager, adult, or old person want to be involved in sports and a healthy lifestyle. If someone positively changes their attitude towards sports, our goal will already be achieved.” said Irina.

However, planning such an event can be a hard and lengthy process. Half of the team starts working 3 months prior to the actual event, contacting organizations, partners, sponsors, etc. The other half will join this preparation process around 1 month before it all starts. According to Irina, there are approximately 500 people participating in the event, including sports representatives.

This time, dozens of GZAAT students were part of this 500-person team. With various roles and responsibilities, the festival’s success depended on them. For example, Anna Akhaladze, a senior, was Irina Egadze’s assistant. “I was an intermediary between the coordinators and Irina.” Anna described.

Irinka Iashvili, a senior,  was the designer’s assistant. She was mostly involved with management and organizational tasks. She also helped with the decorations, which consisted of cardboard cutouts and posters of catchphrases. “We have a tradition that our team wears a unique type of clothing on the days of the event. This year was no exception. I participated in coming up with a new design for our jackets and shirts,” said Irinka.

Irinka said the hardest part of her job was time management. Sewers needed time to prepare the team clothing, the companies had to provide the logos and workers had to purchase materials. Katska Zamtaradze, a junior, also had trouble with time management, but in a different way. She said it was hard to balance work with school, since she was in the office after classes every day. However she described this experience as “important, because I saw some struggles I’ll encounter in real life”. 

Elene Mansvetashvili, a senior, was in charge of sales. “When people from different departments needed something, I sent my team to buy it. This was my big job, however I was also in charge of maintaining the team, so that everything would be in order before and during the festival, such as providing walkie talkies, food, etc.” Elene said. However, this job was not without fun. Elene described the preparation night before the festival as “the best time I had during my job”.  

Like her peers, Natalia Abuladze, a junior, was hard at work as the coordinator of the technical team. Her job was organizing the inventory at the festival, such as tables, chaires, banners etc. She was also in charge of their transportation, keeping track of the dates and times of transportation, calling companies from which the inventory was rented, checking the prices, giving dates and demonstrating how they would be arranged at the festival. Managing electricity was also part of her job. She had to buy electrical inventory, such as adaptors and converters. Natalia points out that her time at SportFest was not just work: “I was part of the cheerleading team. We cheered before the padel and the football tournament. I love this festival as I have made many friends here,” she said. 

A small comment from SportFest’s constant guest Nodariko Khutsishvili: 

“ I loved this festival. It is the most enjoyable and colorful festival I have ever been to. I haven’t tried many sports this year because I only attended one day, Sunday, but I tried zumba which I really liked and had a lot of fun. I will definitely attend the next sportsfest, which I am very excited about and am looking forward to!”

As senior Irinka Iashvili describes, SportFest 05 was “one of the best events that came out.” The territory was much bigger than previous locations since it was in a park. This gave everybody the opportunity to wander and feel free and comfortable. “A lot of people came and all had fun in their own way. For us, there were more responsibilities with these positive aspects, but I think it was worth our energy. Everybody, including us, was very happy with the event which was our main goal,” Irinka said.