The team of the Directorate of the Special Olympics of Russia, headed by General Director Yegor Lebedev, visited the Volga region Academy of sports today. The capital's guests arrived in Kazan the day before to get acquainted with the city's sports infrastructure and determine the venues where the 2022 Special Olympics world winter games will be held in January 2022.
Yegor Lebedev shared his impressions of what he saw:
- We have come to see the sports facilities Of the world winter games of the Special Olympics-2022, there is not much time left, and we must make a final decision in the near future. There is a lot of work ahead: Special Olympics differs from high-performance sports in that in addition to sports, it includes a lot of non-sports programs, which are the main focus. This includes the Healthy athlete program, where athletes will undergo a medical examination, the Young athlete program, a family program for parents to share their experience, and many others. The main principle of the special Olympics is that It should become a holiday for participants and spectators. In total, we are waiting for 11 thousand guests in Kazan in 2022. This includes 2 thousand athletes and a thousand coaches, about 3 thousand honored guests, two thousand parents of athletes, volunteers, fans…
According to Lebedev, the Volga Academy will play a special role in the preparation and holding of the Special Olympics:
- The role of the Academy is huge. After all, the University has created a regional branch of the Special Olympics of Russia, one of the strongest in the country, despite the fact that it was created recently. A good professional team has been formed here, whose help is necessary to conduct everything correctly, in accordance with the philosophy of the movement. It is also important that the Academy has a great sports infrastructure and a Universiade Village. All this is within walking distance and will be used as much as possible. And, of course, we are counting on your students, who are being prepared for this work at a professional level.
Recall that the President of the Tatarstan branch of the Special Olympics of Russia Is the Vice-rector for administrative work and social development of the Volga Academy Ilshat Fayzullin, and Larisa Parfenova, head of the Department of adaptive physical culture and life safety, helps him in this work as Executive Director. The Department trains specialists in working with children with special intellectual development.
According to Larisa Anatolyevna, the educational potential of the Volga Academy will be equally involved with the infrastructure in the preparation for the Special Olympics. In particular, the University is likely to implement training programs for judges and volunteers.