On the initiative and organized by the Macedonian Olympic Committee, in September 2019, the North Macedonia Fencing Federation sent Biljana Kuzmanovska Nikolovska, founder and coach of the Eskrim Skopje Fencing Club, to an education at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs – USA. After analyzing the situation in the Macedonian fencing, a mutual decision was made on the subject of education and the test project to be “Long-term development of athletes and periodization in sport”.
Upon returning from the United States, Biljana began creating and proposed an implementation plan for the project involving Macedonian fencing, which will be defended in April this year, at the International Olympic Committee’s headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Her project also includes the periodization of a training process for the national cadet team for the period February – April. Prior to the application of the periodization, control measurements and recording of project participants were made, psychological testing of an extended group of athletes was performed, basic knowledge of this area of our fencing trainers was tested and two workshops were held for their education.
Following Biljana’s plan, in order to bring the federation’s work up to world standards, we stepped out of our own staff and resources and hired a fitness coach, Professor Nazim Kurtovic, who works with a larger group of young fencers to improve their general physical condition. , strength, explosiveness and durability
The modern approach to sports involves the application of science to sports, and part of it is proper nutrition and following certain medical parameters of the athlete. For that, we organized a lecture on proper nutrition for athletes attended by young fencers with their parents. The lecture was delivered by Dr. Zoran Handziski, a physiologist and sports medicine specialist, our eminent expert in this field.
Cadets, participants in this project will be sent to a complete sports medical examination that includes a food intolerance test to individually adjust nutrition during training and competitions. It is planned to extend this to all candidates for the national selection.
After the project has been defended, it will be expanded with the knowledge gained while staying in the United States, including knowledge gained from the literature used in its preparation and experiences of its implementation, and will be published to share with other trainers. Along with working on the project, Biljana is preparing a booklet aimed for parents of athletes.
Such a serious approach to sports requires serious financial support. The road and stay in the United States were organized by the Macedonian Olympic Committee, the participation of the cadet team at the European Championship in Porec, Croatia was partially supported by the Agency for Youth and Sport, but the main funding for the implementation of the Biljana project are funding sport through a voucher system. We express our gratitude to the MOK, the AMS and the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia for providing us with the prerequisites to raise the fencing to a level that will be globally competitive.
