What I Brought Back from Barcelona – A Sports Ambassador's Travel Diary

This time in Barcelona, the most important thing wasn’t to present specific project ideas to one another. Rather, we talked about which causes each ambassador could authentically get behind.

For me, this was perhaps less of a question. Inclusion is especially close to my heart; I’ve been working on it for a long time, and it is also one of my main areas of focus in the Veszprém–Balaton European Region of Sport 2026 program.

For others, however, it wasn’t quite as clear what topic would allow them to truly be themselves. Many of us came from different backgrounds and brought a wide range of skills, and that diversity was reflected in the way we communicated as well.

Those who already had a clear idea, project, or cause—as I did—were happy to share it with the others, while at the same time, we also discovered some completely unexpected points of connection.

For me, one such connection was a visit to a yacht club in Barcelona.

Here, women who have survived breast cancer can join a rowing community can join a rowing community. Coaches and doctors continue to monitor their progress, observing not only physical but also mental changes, and also examine how exercise and the community experience affect their recovery.

When I saw this, I immediately felt: there could be a place for this here at home as well.

I’d like to find partners for this in Hungary, and I’m very pleased that discussions between the Spanish and Hungarian partners have already begun.

But something even more important than this that I brought back with me from Barcelona.

Inclusion. Not as a separate program or something special, but as a part of everyday life.

It was evident in restaurants, in services, and in public transportation. It was present in the needs of a person with a food allergy just as much as in the accessibility needs of a person in a wheelchair or with a hearing impairment.

And to me, that is exactly what inclusion means.

I wouldn’t want anyone to be “special”special” because they have special needs. Nor would I want inclusion to always mean a separate program, separate attention, or a separate location.

I’d like it to just become natural one day.

So that we don’t focus on the disability or the illnessor the barrier, but the person first.

Perhaps that’s why Barcelona was so inspiring to me—not just because of the project or the programs, but because of the experience of seeing how inclusion can blend into everyday life.

I brought this feeling home with me, rather than something big and spectacular.

Something natural.

A place where there really is room for everyone. ❤️

Szilvia Bonyhádi – European Ambassador of Sport