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A Gallery of Baptist Youth Sport Excellence

At Budapest Baptist High School and Sport School, we are home to many of Hungary’s most outstanding youth athletes. These students choose our school because our mode of operation caters specifically to the needs of professional athletes. Our curriculum considers lifestyles in which studying is often second to intense training and preparation for competitions, which means students are able to have individual study plans in accordance with their sports schedules. In order to support athletes, “special” students are assigned a mentoring professor who helps them balance their study and training obligations. Speaking with these young talents, it also becomes obvious that their motivation is boosted by being in a company of similar kids who all spend several hours a day training and are among the best in their fields of sport. Let’s meet a few of the champions whose accomplishments make us proud!

Anna Szél

Anna was only 15 when she won a national wrestling championship among boys of her age. Ever since, she has been considered one of the main promises of Hungarian women’s wrestling. She fulfilled this promise by winning the 56 kg cadet European Championship this summer, then earning a bronze medal at the World Championship. Anna is currently 16 years old, and became a student of Budapest Baptist High School and Sport School last year.

Being the daughter of the president of the wrestling club at her hometown Orosháza, Anna was practically born on the wrestling rug. She started wrestling at the age of 6, initially because it was also her older brothers’ sport of choice: however, her results soon overshadowed theirs. For the past few years, she has won competition after competition, often in an age group higher than her own. At last year’s cadet European Championship, she was the youngest wrestler on the Hungarian roster.

Anna says she is thankful to be in a class where everyone is a high-level athlete, as she feels this is an environment where her lifestyle and the difficulties she faces are understood by her peers. Her current goal is to make it to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which would be a massive accomplishment as she is only going to be 18 at the time.

Alex Szőke

Alex is among the definite elite of Hungarian youth sports today. The ESMTK wrestler won the title of cadet World Champion in 2016, then became cadet European Champion in 2017. Alex was prompted to become a wrestler after seeing an advertisement for wrestling training at the age of 7 and hasn’t looked back since. He has won pretty much every competition in his age group since then, having collected more than 100 medals by the age of 17.

Alex is the brother of Márk Szőke, who is one of Hungary’s best at motocross racing. Alex also tried motocross, which turned out to be not so much of his thing, however, he is inspired by having another close relative with a serious career in sports. Alex is making the level up from cadet to junior as he turns 18 next year, which also means he becomes eligible for adult competitions.

While Alex has emerged as a true champion among his age group, he still believes there is a lot to learn if he is to make it on the adult circuit. While qualifying for the 2020 Summer Olympics is not out of the question, he says we will have to wait until 2024 to see his true potential.

Kata Blanka Vas

An U7 Hungarian champion at the age of 6, Kata started cycle racing as early as four. She now competes on the Hungarian adult cyclecross circuit, having won this year’s first major race this October and is a strong contender for the national championship next January, even though she is still only 16. She has also won her age group mountain bike national championship five times.

Kata became a professional cyclist following the example of her father and her brother Balázs, who are both prominent athletes in the same field. Last November, she came up 17^th at the Women’s U23 Cyclocross European Championships, however, since she was considerably younger than most of her competition, it is safe to say that the best for her is likely yet to come.