The international charity Parimatch Foundation, previously focused on implementing educational and sports programs for children, is gradually restoring these programs for young Ukrainians from different regions of the country. The Foundation is aimed at supporting society by involving children in sports, and physical and motor activity, encouraging them to develop through sports, communicate with peers and acquire new skills.
Supported by the Chernivtsi Regional Military Administration and the Department of Education and Science, the Foundation continues to implement its activities in the region. In particular, from now on, its «Sports Mentor» program will be available to the children of the Konyatyn Territorial Community. The program aims to help children, regardless of their life circumstances, develop their confidence, as well as physical and social skills through sport.
The Konyatyn territorial community was not chosen by chance to launch the Foundation’s programs here. The Parimatch Foundation team was impressed by the residents’ desire to play sports, as they built a stadium in the rock themselves. Children living in the community walk 4 km in the mountains almost every day in any weather to train with their favorite coach, who comes here 200 km away.
On September 6, the Parimatch Foundation representatives with famous athletes and coaches, visited the village Semakova, Konyatynsk community, where they solemnly congratulated the children on the start of the new academic and sports year, and announced the start of the «Sports Mentor» program as well as football, volleyball, and judo classes.
45 children aged 6 to 16 including socially vulnerable categories of children, who did not have the opportunity to be fully engaged in sports and physical activity, took part in sports programs. All children could immerse in the training atmosphere. The well-known Ukrainian football players, volleyball players, and judokas Bohdan Fedirchyk, Stepan Moysyuk, and Yuriy Ternovy, who works as coaches now conducted a full-fledged class with a warm-up and game practice for children.
The stadium, where the training took place, was equipped for various sports activities. Prominent athletes of the Chernivtsi region, namely world champions, and masters of sports of Ukraine, were also invited to meet and train with the children:
Ivan Shtefiuk is an honored coach of Ukraine in hand-to-hand combat, head coach of the National Team of Ukraine in universal combat, master of sports in pankration;
Oleg Mandryk — master of sports of Ukraine in hand-to-hand combat, 2-time World Champion in hand-to-hand combat, 2-time European Champion, multiple champion of Ukraine, and winner of the Cup of Ukraine;
Petro Ratsa – judge of the National category, master of sports, world champion;
Ivan Vatskan — President of the Volleyball Federation, referee of the 1st category;
Taras Mandryk – master of sports of Ukraine in hand-to-hand combat, 2-time world champion, 5-time European champion, multiple champion and Ukrainian cups winner, 3-time winner of the President’s Cup of Ukraine in hand-to-hand combat among special forces and military formations in a heavyweight category;
Petro Strateychuk is the President of the Ukrainian Taekwondo Federation.
New the «Sports Mentor» program participants could talk to sports stars, took autographs and received pieces of advice from their idols. The day was unforgettable for the young athletes and will be remembered for a long time as an active and emotional start to the academic year.
Vadym Misyura, director of the Parimatch Foundation in Ukraine, congratulated those present on the «Sports Mentor» program launch.
— We couldn’t stay indifferent when we came to the Konyatyn community for the first time and saw the desire of children to play sports as well as coaches’ desire to come here from Chernivtsi. We immediately started negotiating about the number of sports groups to open here as our team’s mission is to support children in their desire to do sports. And we are sincerely glad that we managed to do it together. Today, our «Sports Mentor» program operates in 15 regions of Ukraine, and we are pleased to partner with the Chernivtsi region, precisely the Konyatyn community. Our soldiers are fighting for the future of our children, and our task is to do everything to help the local authorities, the people who live here, the children, and the community. We will be strong and we will win.
«Sports Mentor» is a comprehensive program aimed at increasing children’s physical activity, their love for a healthy lifestyle, interest in high results, overcoming the tendency to antisocial behavior and aggression, and preventing psychological and emotional disorders.
In addition to the «Sports Mentor» program, the Foundation also launched a «Crisis Psychological Assistance» educational course for IRC psychologists who work with families and children suffering traumatic experiences caused by the consequences of war. The project in Bukovina was implemented with the Israeli trauma coalition experts and supported by the Department of Education and Science of the Chernivtsi Regional Military Administration. As a result, 32 IRC psychologists, as well as Educational institution specialists have already worked with children, including IDPs, using the new methodology in the Chernivtsi region.
