Besides work and education, sport is a traditionally liked activity of the population of Szentes. In addition to pursuing some sport competitively, a wide range of people swim, run, cycle and, of course, play football. Perhaps to acknowledge this, Szentes has been the National Sportstown of Hungary since 1996.
This rare but rather respectful title was given to the town by the director of the National Sport Office as the acknowledgement of the sportlife of the town. Not only the inhabitants of Szentes contribute to the town's domestic fame and acknowledgement but guest sportsmen visiting Szentes form this image and make it more colourful.
They are the ones who widen our way of thinking about sports and life by their ever-renewing claims and, in the case of foreigners, by their national customs. According to their point of view, the greatness of sports can be found in this aspect, since the power of sport cannot only measured in its own effectiveness but in the number of people it reaches.
Our guest sportsmen come to our town basically for two reasons:
1.Competitions:
There are championships with a great number of competitors organized for years, such as the Meeting of the European Waterpolo Teams, or the Sportfestival of Twin Towns. We especially pay attention to having the junior teams present on these occassions. As for international competitions, we organized the final of the Women's Waterpolo European Cup in 1993.
2. Traning camps: This is a more familiar and perspective form of sport connections. This is that special case when the success of the hosts is the fact that the guests are successful. Without wanting to give a complete list, we summarize the recent period:
Karate : The Hungarian team, The Romanian team
Swimming : Mike Barrowan (Barcelona), Sergio Lopez (EB1)
Waterpolo
:
The
Ausztralian team (1996,1997)
The
Hungarian team (1992-1997)
The
German junior team (1996)
The
Finnish junior team (1996,1997)
Handball : The Algerian women's team (1997 participant in the World Cup)
Futball:
Agricultural
University, Gödöllõ (1996)
BVSC
youngsters (1995)
Grund
FC (1996,1997)
As we have seen in the list, some very famous sportsmen were our guests, whose career we observe, we support them (it does not matter whether Hungarian or not), and we are proud of them.
Of course, for so many branches of sport a serious sport complexum is needed. To build so many courts, swimming pools and sports halls takes the work of decades.
These facilities as smaller and larger units previously worked separated. Nowadays they work as one single unit on 10-12 hectares of well-kept area, and the name of the complexum is the Centre of Sport and Tourism.
In the area there are four football fields, a sports hall for 2,000 spectators, fifteen slagged tennis courts, one archery field, one fitness centre, one karate dojo, three body building training room, one athletic field, one 50 metres long, one 33 1/3 metres long swimming pools and a 25 metres long tutorial swimming pool, sitting pools and dance floors.
Sporting facilities in the town:
Swimming, waterpolo:
In the chosen swimming pools of the town ( 25 m , 33 1/3, 50 m ) members of any age group, women and men have the possibility the train or prepare, and the swimming pools can be used for groundwork camps as well.
Among the different swimming styles taught in Szentes, breast stroke is the traditionally strong one (Tamás Bessenyei, a swimmer in Szentes, came in third in 100 m breast stroke in 1997) but we, of course, welcome the representatives of other styles, too.
The training opponents of our guest waterpolo teams can be the Hungerit - Szentesi VK, a Hungarian multichampion, or after adequate arrangements, the Hungarian representative team, but, of course, there is possibility for independent training, too.
The fee per swimming pool.per hour is 500 HUF, which includes the fee of the relaxation pool and using the conditioning machines. On request, we provide expert swimming trainers.
Tennis:
Next
to the swimming pool there is the Town Tennis Stadium with fifteen slagged tennis courts. The slag is very well-kept, its service units are clean. The charge for use is 2,500 HUF per person per day, which includes the use of the relaxation pool and the beach ball court. There is a possibility to use the Thermal Spa, as well.
Except for the winter months, the use of the facilities is recommended.
Football:
On
the eastern bank of the River Kurca stands a construction with four football pitches. Three of them are grassy and one has slag. One pitch is provided with electrical lighting.
The
fee of a grassy pitch is 500 HUF/hour or 5,000 HUF/day
The
fee of the slagged pitch is 300 HUF/hour or 3,000 HUF/day
The
fees include the use of the spring-wall, the heading stand and the dressing rooms.
Recommended
at any time of the year.
Canoeing:
In the vicinity of Szentes water sports can be pursued on the River Tisza, on Lake Thermal and on the River Kurca.
Junior teams can have training camps for winter roundwork or early spring pregroundwork on water ith the possibilities of the additional branches of sports. In canoe polo additional sporting facilities are available throughout the whole preparation and competition period.
TRIATLON,
DUATLON, QUADRIATLON:
There
is the possibility of having training camps all the year round with all the range of additional facilities.
The conditions of the training camps mentioned above are ensured by accommodation, sport facilities and restaurants within a circle with a diameter of 1 km. Furthermore, there is possibility to measure sporting performance based on heart frequency, to check endurance, to determine Aero-Anaero transition, to survey game contruction (data collecting, analysis and evaluation).
Dancec:
The
Szilver TSK organizes dance training camps with the possibility of using the already mentioned additional facilities in the special aerobic and dance centre of the town.
Indoor
games:
The
24 x 48 m arena of the Town Sports Hall offers excellent possibility for playing handball, basketball, volleyball, fencing, table tennis, indoor football, gymnastics and judo.
The arena can be divided into four parts, so the rent can significantly be decreased. The rent is 1,800 HUF/Hour. There is an excellently equipped conditioning room, whose rent is separate (200 HUF/person). (The use of the swimming pool and the relaxation pool is free.) Recommended at any time of the year.
Karate:
This
very noble and respectable sport (way of living) attracts more and more people in Hungary. We need not introduce Sándor Brezovai, three-dan karate master to anybody in Szentes. He is double European Champion, tenth in the World Cup, has been a Hungarian Champion several times, and he is the only person in Hungary who can continuously fight 50 battles.
At present young sportmen learn karate in a boarding system in his dojo, or fitness centre, and there is possibility to have traning camps as well.
Accommodation:
On
the area of the Centre of Sport and Tourism 100 people can get accommodation in bungalows and sport hotels at the same time. These are accommodations of different categories from the wooden houses with two beds till the apartmant with a kitchen and a garage.
According to this, the prices vary between 500 HUF/person/night upto 1,500 HUF/person/night. Most rooms have a Tv, a bathroom and a fridge.
Eating:
There
are seven restaurants, several pizzerias and snack bars in Szentes. The cost of a daily food for a sportman is about 1,000 HUF/person.
Specialities:
Additional service which can only be found in Hungary:
