Respected Attendees,
Respected Athletes,
Dear sport lovers,

It gives me great pleasure to greet you all at the closing ceremony of this year's project "Sports Bon-Ton - Traditional Sports Games".

Today we are here as a winning team. In our team there were children and parents, teachers and athletes from several municipalities of the Republic of Macedonia. Together we trained, together we competed, together we reached the goal and defeated the opponent.

We know our opponent very well. He is impatient with the players and fans of the opposing team. He is indecent in cheering and unscrupulous in labeling the unalike. He does not refrain from physical fight during the sporting events. Driven by the desire to win at all costs, he justifies and encourages the use of illicit doping. For him, the profit is much more important than the game, so he cheats in term of the sports results. He proudly calls himself an athlete or sports fan, but he actually has nothing to do with sports. He is our opponent, but above all the opponent of the sport.

We did our best against such an opponent: sports bon-ton and fair play, cooperation and unity, teamwork and chivalry, promotion of positive sportsmanship and respect for diversity. Two years in a row we are competing and we won.

Dear friends,

The project was implemented in several Macedonian municipalities. Municipalities which were fully involved in the activities and, with all their capacity, contributed to its successful realization. To them, to the organizers and to all supporters of the project, I thank and congratulate.
We managed to transform the understanding of sports among the youngest. But we also managed to transform the sports fields as well.

From a place of intolerance, violence and insults, the sports fields turned into a space for respect, acceptance and building friendships among the youngest that outweigh all differences.

At the sports fields, children played sports with friends who come from different backgrounds, speak different languages and go to different churches.

But all these differences become insignificant when compared with what they have in common. All of them are children who rejoice in life, who are curious and eager to know more. Children, who have untamed desire for friendship and sharing. As President, but primarily as a parent and a professor, I give utmost importance to that.

Thanks to sport, children understood what it takes to really get to know their peers.

Dear friends,

Our winning team does not stop here. We continue to compete in real sporting spirit. To promote the essence of sports, bonding, networking, integration.

The significance of this project is not only in the inclusion of children, but of adults and primarily of teachers. I am especially grateful for their participation and contribution. I encourage sports workers, teachers, students and parents to continue to teach children about good sporting behavior.

It depend on all of us whether the sports will retain its essence and will continue to be promoted as a tool for building unity and friendship among people. I have no doubt in the positive outcome.

Thank you.