Students of Volga Region University of Sports and Tourism became prize-winners of the All-Russian Spartakiade of Strongest Gymnastics. The tournament ended last weekend at one of the university's facilities, the Gymnastics Centre.
More than 230 athletes from 40 regions of the Russian Federation, among them ten Honoured Masters of Sports of Russia and fifteen masters of sports of international class competed for the medals. Eleven university students competed on different teams: the teams of the Republic of Tatarstan, Samara Region, Udmurtia, Chuvashia and the Republic of Mordovia.
In the men's team event, third year student Stanislav Isayev and sophomore Ivan Antonikhin took bronze for the Tatarstan national team. In the women's team event the Republic's squad placed among the top 10 with a ninth place finish. Kristina Tsoi was a third year student. Ivan Antonikhin placed fifth in the individual event on the pommel horse. The national team of the Republic of Tatarstan was among the three strongest regions, behind Moscow and the Vladimir Region.
It should be noted that representatives of Volga Region University also contributed to the organisation and running of the Spartakiade. So, five teachers of the Department of Theory and Methodology of Gymnastics took part in the judging of the competitions - the head judge was the head of the department, international category judge Lyubov Botova, international category judge Igor Beluzhenkov, category one judges Vyacheslav Turaev, Leonid Lopatin and Sergey Veldyaev. Four more teachers - Gulshat Shamgullina, Valentina Kosulina, Irina Kucherova, Tatiana Zayachuk and Ekaterina Niazi, as well as 40 students of the department helped to organise the competition.
As Lubov Botova noted, in general the Spartakiade of the strongest athletes in artistic gymnastics was a success. "It was remarkable that at the end of the competition the competitors were satisfied and expressed their gratitude for the organisation," admitted the chief judge of the competition. - In addition, it is important that the immersion of students in the process of organising and conducting competitions is a unique opportunity to form professional competences, which cannot be formed by learning only in theory. Before and after the competition, we worked with them on all the organizational aspects, discussed the mistakes that had arisen and how they could be avoided. I always advocate communication between students and high-class coaches and athletes - it's great practice. Yes, and also to promote the university. In general, the opportunity to host such a large-scale event, I believe, is a show of great trust in the Russian Gymnastics Federation, which I personally cherish.
