Minister of Sport and Tourism Jakub Rutnicki began his speech by emphasising the importance of small sports clubs from small towns.

On my first day at the ministry, I said that top-level sport starts in our small towns and small clubs, and I will continue to uphold this message. We take action where top-level sport begins, where it needs support the most, because our champions often come from small towns or villages. It is our duty as the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, the government and the Sejm to allocate the money in a systematic way, 

– he emphasised. 

Dialogue and cooperation with Polish sports federations 

The minister spoke about very intensive work at local level and the cooperation with Polish sports federations.

Since July, I have met with most Polish sports federations. We talk, we are focused on dialogue and we listen to the needs. Then, we put forward specific proposals. We seek to meet Polish sports federations’ expectations regarding faster payments of grants for training. We are aware that this was a problem,

– said Minister Rutnicki. 

To this end, a special working group has been established. It is headed by Janusz Samel, Director of the Competitive Sports Department and Adam Korol, President of the Polish Rowing Federation, Olympic champion from Beijing and former Minister of Sport. 

Together with presidents of Polish sports federations we are developing rules and mechanisms to improve the funding of the federations. This is also about the issue of support for hosting major sports events in Poland. We are going to solve it in a systemic way, 

– he announced. 

The Minister of Sport and Tourism underlined that funds for the training of the national teams have been “secured at a level similar to this year’s”. 

Some people want to close down the Ministry of Sport and Tourism. Yet, I am proud of its work and our cooperation with Polish sports federations. All their achievements make us feel proud, and in the last weeks there have been many reasons for it, for example thanks to our canoeists, rowers and volleyball players,

– said Jakub Rutnicki. 

It is our duty to ensure that Polish athletes can focus solely on sports training. The ministry has the obligation to take measures for them not to have to worry about anything else. This is how it works,

– he added. 

Acceleration of infrastructure development 

The minister emphasised that sports infrastructure development is accelerating. 

We promised accelerated development of Orlik sports facilities and it is happening. I’m proud to say that Poland is currently the largest construction site of sports infrastructure,

– pointed out the minister. 

1,015 Orlik facilities are under refurbishment, 320 have been renovated and 83 new ones are under construction. 

Every local government that has an Orlik facility and wants to renovate it will receive support from the ministry, every government that has such a need,

– he assured. 

The results of this year’s edition of Orlik sports facilities construction programme will soon be announced. Notably, about 33% of Polish municipalities still have no Orlik pitch. 

At the turn of the year, we will announce new infrastructure programmes with particular emphasis on renovation and construction of new Orlik facilities,

– announced the minister and encouraged local governments to submit applications. 

The results of the call for proposals for the Programme of construction of full-size football pitches with artificial and natural surfaces will soon be known. Minister Rutnicki also announced the launch of a “large-scale project of changing rooms’ renovation”.

The programme will contain two components: renovation of changing rooms and construction of new ones,”

– he explained and added that the programme would be launched at the turn of November and December. 

The Programme of sports infrastructure development in individual voivodeships (i.e. provinces) of the country will be developed and improved. 

The programme will be continued but will be slightly changed so that the applications can be considered at a faster pace,

– he said. 

The minister also announced a new programme of constructing new sports halls, and the planned cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior and Administration in this area. 

Sports infrastructure should also meet the needs in the field of defence. Every local government to implement such a project, e.g. the construction of a sports hall or a swimming pool in the coming years, can and should include shelters in those facilities. The decision will be up to the local governments but such solutions are under preparation,

– he explained. 

The minister pointed out that the shelters can be used as training space for combat sports such as judo, wrestling or boxing. There will also be projects for building swimming pools and ice rinks.

The minister also spoke about new investments planned at the National Sport Centres and about the reconstruction of sports and tourism infrastructure after the last year’s floods. 

By rebuilding this potential we make it possible to restore tourist traffic,

– he emphasised. 

Support to sports clubs for training children and young people

During his speech before the Sejm committee, Minister of Sport and Tourism Jakub Rutnicki also spoke about cooperation with the military and the important role of the National Military Sports Team. 

We have many athletes who are Polish Army soldiers and this functions very well. We maintain dialogue and contact with the Ministry of National Defence in order to further develop the process and increase the number of such employment positions because it really works,

– he emphasised. 

The issue of direct support to sports clubs that train children and young people was also mentioned. The support is provided within the CLUB Programme as well as the PRO CLUB Programme of support to sports clubs. Both projects will be continued. 

Thanks to PRO CLUB, small clubs that train children and young people really well have finally received funding,

– emphasised the minister. 

Sport Development Strategy 

One of the main goals is to support programmes that promote physical activity.

The Active School programme is a huge scale project covering nearly 450,000 children,

– said the minister. 

Orlik facilities’ activation projects will also be implemented. 

Orlik pitches are to turn into Family Activity Zones. On weekdays, they are used by children who train there. But on weekends, a dad should come there with his son, or a mum with her daughter, and they should have a sports training together. That’s why there will be an option to add new structures to Orlik pitches, for example a climbing wall, an athletics track, a fitness playground, a pump track and many others,

– he enumerated. 

Two sports tournaments are already held at Orlik facilities: From Orlik pitch to a stadium and Handball at Orlik pitches. Another one, Athletics at Orlik pitches, will start soon. The Ministry of Sport and Tourism is working on a new Sports Development Strategy, an important part of which will be the popularisation and promotion of sport. 

We are at the stage of developing a great-scale project, a strategy for the development of Polish sport. We are cooperating with Robert Korzeniowski, the most outstanding Polish athlete and the most successful Olympian who has extensive experience in sport and physical activity promotion,

– said Jakub Rutnicki. 

We are at the stage of preparing the strategy. The main objectives will soon be determined. The document will cover the next decades. Based on it, we will rebuild the practising of sport in Poland on a massive scale as we now have a problem with it,

– added the minister and pointed to the problem with physical activation of kids.

As he explained, the Sports Development Strategy is going to be a roadmap for implementing the required changes, both in the legislation and in the system of education. In this context, the minister spoke about physical education classes in primary school grades 1-3 and the problem of excuses from PE classes. 

Parents must understand that the phenomenon of excuses from PE classes is a disaster and should cease to exist in the country. We have a great problem with kids due to obesity, and there are mental health problems that are often related to lack of physical activity. We should all keep working to solve this,

– he emphasised. 

The draft strategy is, at the same time, to be a “project of national pride”, a step towards realising the great project of hosting Olympic Games in Poland. 

Poland Brand 

The minister emphasised that Poland is the 20th largest economy in the world. In the context of the Olympic Games, he spoke about measures aimed at building the “Poland Brand”.

The work of Ministers Piotr Borys and Ireneusz Raś is going in the right direction. The market is strongly growing. We want to develop further, to exceed the current 5% share of GDP. For this to happen, we need a strong leverage to promote Poland, which can be our application for the Olympic Games. I trust that the aim can be achieved. We have already demonstrated that we can do it. I am convinced that the project will also be a great flywheel for promoting our country,

– said Minister Rutnicki. 

The project has three main components: 

1. The umbrella component – the development of a holistic system for the “Poland Brand” strategy, integrating the activities of state institutions, local governments and experts to strengthen the country’s position on the international arena; 
2. The development and promotion of regional brands to emphasize the diversity and tourist attractiveness of the country’s individual areas; 
3. The modernisation and extension of tourism infrastructure based on the system of allocations to voivodeships (i.e. provinces) and the project financing model based on the following share of allocations: 30% - the ministry, 30% - the voivodeship (i.e. province) government, and 40% - the local government.