Students of the Adaptive Physical Culture Department Alisa Akhmerova and Ekaterina Salmina took part in the Adaptive Sports Festival for children and youth with spina bifida syndrome. The festival was part of the project ‘Development of Paralympic sport in the Republic of Tatarstan’.
30 children took part in the festival: on the bank of the Volga River they were engaged in swimming, freediving, dancing, big and table tennis, wheelchair fencing. For the first time in Russia, there was also an open water adaptive sapboarding competition.
At the festival, participants got acquainted with the national wheelchair dancing champions Nursina Galieva and Elena Zamyslova, who became the squad leaders, and also talked to Riyana Imamieva, a three-time champion of Tatarstan in table tennis.
I learnt about the event from the group supervisor - I thought it would be a great opportunity to work with children,’ shared Alisa Akhmetova. - I was a counselor of the middle squad together with Elena Zamyslova, world champion in wheelchair dancing. During the camp we became friends, it was sad to part, so now we communicate on social networks.
Adults with spina bifida syndrome were the host leaders of the leisure programme, together with them the students conducted creative and entertaining activities and accompanied the children throughout the day.
‘The festival interested me - it was an opportunity to try myself in the professional sphere and meet new people,’ said Ekaterina Salmina. - The guys were cheerful and open, gave love to those around them and bravely went to training’.
Author: Adelina Khramova
