Romanian Scholastic Sports Are on the Verge of Collapse

In May 2002, government ordinance No. 298/2002 was passed, on the recommendation of the Research and Education department. The provision will cut back enrollment in sports high schools and elementary schools. Right now 75,000 students are registered scholastic athletes. That number is expected to drop down to 50,000 starting next year, when the number of available openings in sports schools will be reduced. For those of you who don't know how the educational system in Romania works, everything from sports to academic and vocational schools has a certain number of openings. The candidates take written and/or practical exams, and based on those results, the top candidates are accepted.

Right now, there are 591 boys and 762 girls who are enrolled in Sports High School and Scholastic Sports Clubs as gymnasts. Out of the 3.5 million students who are enrolled in k-12, 1.353 are gymnasts. This means one out of every 2,800 kids is selected as a future gymnasts. The odds are expected to get even smaller once the new government ordinance goes into effect.

Several coaches gave their take on the grim prospects.
"Romanian sports has taken a big hit, right to its core. Who are you going to kick out? Children progress at different speeds. There are some that are great since they start out, but then the reach a plateau. Then, you have others that develop later on. I don't know how we'll handle this." Mariana Bitang, assisatnt coach women's national gymnastics team.

”It’s sad. We’ll get to the point where only 2 percent of students will be registered athletes.” Nicolae Mărăsescu, YSD General Secretary

"Sport is highly regarded in the civilized world. On the other hand, our Education Department is cutting back on anything that deals with sports, starting with the number of students and ending with the number of hours of PE. This is an attack on the health of the nation, which is maintained through an active style, not gobbling medicine [he’s probably referring to the increase in the health budget].” Vasile Popa, head coach of the men’s basketball team at Dinamo Bucharest

”This is stupid. 90% of Romania’s top athletes come from here. Scholastic Sports clubs have all but been eradicated through small budgets and bad training conditions. Now, they’re taking our students away.” Constantin Mihail, technical director of the Romanian Athletics Federation

Pyramid of Romanian Sports
3,500 athletes on national teams
207,275 registered athletes
75,000 students who are registered scholastic athletes
will go down to 50,000 in 2002-2003
3.5 million students

Gymnastics Numbers

Cutting back on the budget for competitive sports has allowed an increase in activities that are designed to promote a more active life style, such as the “National Olympiad of Scholastic Sports.” Problem is, this should not come at the expense of competitive sports. Especially not at a time, when coaches in all the sports have been complaining about a reduced talent pool to choose from. That talent pool has just been cut back even further.

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