Children's sports in Ukraine during the war: in which communities do they pay significant attention to the physical development of boys and girls

The full-scale Russian aggression has affected all spheres of life in our country in one way or another, and sports, both professional and grassroots, is no exception. Throughout the years of independence, athletes, coaches, representatives of various federations and even sports officials have regularly voiced the thesis that this area is underfunded, sports infrastructure is in decline, athletes do not have adequate training conditions, and therefore do not show good results, UNN writes.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, 343 sports facilities have been affected, of which almost 100 have been completely or partially destroyed. More and more athletes are forced to spend a lot of time abroad to properly prepare for and recover from competitions. Despite all the difficulties, Ukrainian athletes still delight fans with victories and prizes at prestigious competitions.

However, we all understand that in order to eventually reach the podium, you need to train long and hard from a young age. Therefore, in the current environment, support and development of children's sports in Ukraine is critically important, otherwise in 5-10 years there will simply be no one to win medals. Despite the fact that even before 2022, there were problems with children's sports in Ukraine.

According to one study, in 2021, there were just over 434,000 pupils of children's and youth sports schools and specialized children's and youth sports schools of the Olympic reserve in Ukraine. At the same time, their number decreased by almost 60 thousand from 2017 to 2021. During the same period, more than 100 of these institutions ceased to exist. Of course, there are private sections and sports groups. Therefore, according to some sports experts, on the eve of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, 1 in 10 children, or almost 735,000 boys and girls under the age of 18, regularly attended sports classes.

It is difficult to say how many such children there are in Ukraine today. However, it is highly likely that a significant number of them have stopped attending sports schools and clubs due to a change of residence or difficult life circumstances. The damaged sports infrastructure does not allow them to conduct full training and prepare for competitions.

At the same time, we should not forget that children's and youth sports schools are municipal institutions, and thus are funded from local budgets. So, it turns out that almost all the responsibility for raising future champions falls on the shoulders of communities.

"Children's and youth sports are mainly developed at the expense of local authorities. In principle, it was impossible to say that enough money was allocated to this system during the entire period of independence. But over the years, it has probably become too dependent on the capacity of communities and the mood of local leaders. Accordingly, even at this time, children's and youth sports are well funded in some communities. New sports schools, clubs, classes, and so on are being opened somewhere," said Georgiy Mazurashu, a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Youth and Sports, in a commentary to UNN.

An example of this approach is the Brovary community of the Kyiv region, where, despite the difficult times, the existing sports infrastructure is maintained at the proper level, the coaching "backbone" of sports schools has been preserved, funds are allocated for children's participation in competitions, and sponsors are attracted. As a result, children can regularly attend sports schools and clubs.

"Currently, our community has the only wushu and martial arts school for children and youth in Europe, a sports school of the city department of physical education and sports, a sports school of the city department of education and science, and the Brovary football club. In addition, there are various private sections and sports groups. Boys and girls have the opportunity to choose the sport they like and want to associate their life achievements with.

Of course, due to the full-scale Russian invasion, some children and their parents left for other regions of Ukraine or abroad. There are some who have returned. In general, we can say that more than ten thousand children are involved in mass sports in the community. It is important that among them are many children who have moved from the occupied and frontline territories.

This year, among our young athletes, we have winners and prize-winners of various competitions in wushu, horticulture, chess and other sports," Brovary Mayor Ihor Sapozhko told UNN.

The support of children's sports by local authorities is also important in that it is not just about the physical development of boys and girls, but also about communication and psychological support.

"Even in this difficult time, it is necessary to involve children in sports and thus support them. After all, many children, like adults, can also be somewhat depressed because they see what is happening around them. So it's not just training, it's talking, psychological support. We need to inspire optimism in children, to show them that we are all working to win this war.

Of course, at this time we have full support from the Brovary authorities, with whom we have a complete understanding, and this gives us the appropriate result. In this difficult time, it would be difficult for us without such support," said Oleg Chukanov, founder of the only European wushu and martial arts school for children and youth in Brovary, president of the National Ukrainian Wushu Federation.