The final meeting of the RT ice hockey Federation chaired by the Vice-President of the organization Andrey Ryabov, with the participation of representatives of the RT Ministry of sports, the club "AK bars" and the company Tatneft was held yesterday at the Volga region Academy. Rector of the Academy Yusup Yakubov welcomed the participants in the meeting room of the Academic Council of the University.
Yusup Digansheevich spoke about the potential of the joint work of the Volga region Academy with all interested in the development of hockey in the Republic of Tatarstan structures:
- Specialization in hockey today, we have trained 118 students. This year 25 guys will receive diplomas of higher education and will be able to work as coaches. Two thirds of them represent municipal districts of Tatarstan. A third – the regions of Russia.
The system of training of hockey coaches at the Academy, according to Yusuf of Dimensiunea, allows you to put in a sports school as fully-formed professionals, not young interns:  
- The existing educational standards of higher education in Russia allow us to ensure a close connection of the theoretical base with the practical experience of students. We are implementing this educational model in the Volga region Academy. Let me explain by the example of our University team - a two-time winner of the Student hockey League created two years ago in Russia. The guys have a permanent home arena-one of the objects of the University ice Palace "Zilant". Here they regularly have trainings, training sessions and competitions. Some of them on the basis of the same object train groups of initial training, get judicial experience.
In addition to training coaches, the Academy has long been cooperating with the ice hockey Federation of the Republic of Tatarstan and in other areas:
- We have been working productively with the Federation, which has been implementing a large-scale project on training and retraining of ice hockey coaches of the Republic together with our center for additional education for 5 years. Within the framework of the joint project with The AK Bars hockey Academy, the staff and the Department of sports games theory are preparing the basic educational program for training future hockey coaches.
Studies at the Academy, said Yusup Yakubov, allows students not only to form their professional competence, but also to grow as athletes:
- 20 of our students are players of various club teams, five of them are members of the Russian youth and student teams. Among our students there are winners of the student world championship of the world Universiade and the world championship in the Russian national team. Four of our graduates became the owners of the Gagarin Cup in the AK Bars team this season.
According to the rector, this asset should be used for the benefit of hockey development in Tatarstan:  
- I am sure that student hockey should be built into the overall system of development of this sport in the country. Today it is not just a matter of prestige of the Federation and the region, but the priority of tomorrow. Because the face of Tatarstan hockey will depend on what kind of specialists for the industry we educate. In my opinion, the system of training of coaches capable of raising a new generation of sports talents should be clearly tied to the existing local scientific and methodological base and the system of University training. In stating this, I understand that the needs of the industry will be closed exclusively by our students and graduates, so in cooperation with the Federation, we are ready to consider all aspects of our activities.
Andrei Ryabov, in turn, admitted that the topic of cooperation between the Federation and the Academy is still far from being " disclosed»:
- I am personally not satisfied with the work with student hockey. Here we need to work harder on what we can do as a Federation in terms of its authority.
Andrei Alexandrovich stressed that he was pleased with the way the relations between the Federation and the Academy are built in terms of filling the personnel deficit in the industry, graduates of the University. But at the same time, he noted once again that there is still a lot to be done in the issue of integration of student teams of the Federation into the hockey system of the Republic.
Photo: Vadim Kitaev