The Croatian Judo Federation established a project called STEMsport, with the main project objectives to strengthen the capacities of civil society organisations for the active involvement of children and young adults, but also of the broader public into STEM (biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics), as well as to popularise knowledge from a wide range of STEM disciplines through the sports environment.
A range of popular science presentations and workshops have been designed and performed at sports events and public festivals, most recently, the 2024 EJU Judo Festival in Poreč.
Romana KEREP is the Project Manager of the Croatian Judo Federation, with her focus in STEMsport.
The children here today are from a school in Poreč, between the 2nd and 4th grade. The activity you can see them engaging in here is to use the straws to build a strong and stable model that can withstand a greater weight.
Beside the tatami was a large contraption that was catching the attention of the children, a tensegrity platform. Kerep continued,
The platform is 220kg of iron, but when the person is standing on top, essentially it is all on this one central chain.
At this point, the packed tatami welcomed in Croatia’s double World Champion and the current European Champion, Barbara MATIC, who participated in the practical example using the tensegrity platform.
All of the planned activities aim to demonstrate sport operations through the lens of STEM and to show STEM as an integral part of modern sport. The project was granted by both the EU European Social Fund and the State Budget within the framework of the call Strengthening the Capacity of Civil Society for the Popularisation of STEM.
Judoka
Author: Thea Cowen