#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The Sports’ Social Effects meeting of the annual conference Sport and Society: Energy of Change was held in Krasnoyarsk. The city became the third venue for the event, which was organized as part of the foundation’s charitable program Power of Sports, it is designed to unite and promote ideas for improving the quality of people’s lives through sports and physical activity.
“For four years, the foundation has been implementing a program to support social sports – a direction in the development of physical education. In Krasnoyarsk, the topic Sports’ Social Effects was chosen for the conference because it is relevant for many. There are many projects in the region that are worthy of being an example and have the potential to be replicated. We consider social sports as a tool for changing lives. It helps different groups: families in difficult life situations, people with disabilities. Our regional sections give participants the opportunity to see how similar projects are implemented by colleagues, in order to apply similar approaches in their work”, said Igor Baradachev, the Potanin Foundation’s director of programs.
70 people took part in the regional meeting in Krasnoyarsk, including 24 Potanin Foundation grant recipients from ten regions of Russia.
The ANCO for the social adaptation of children with special needs Your Start (Krasnoyarsk) became the winner of the Sport for All competition in 2023 with the project Inclusive Football as an Innovation in Physical Education and Socialization of People with Mental Disabilities.
“Our project is not only about sports, health promotion and socialization of children. This is a successful, proven practice, when sports, in particular football, became a tool and basis for the development of an inclusive culture at school. We work with schools where there are children with special mental development needs so that they play sports, and we also involve neurotypical students in sports volunteering to create inclusive teams. For this, schools have labor resources, premises, and sports equipment for conducting classes”, said Evgeniya Zabara, executive director of the ANCO for social adaptation of children with special development needs Your Start”.
The Krasnoyarsk region’s first deputy minister of sports, Mark Pnev, came to greet the participants of the section. He spoke about the support and development of sports in the region.
The director of the analytical center for physical education and sports technologies at the national research university ITMO Roman Olhovsky (St. Petersburg) spoke about methods for assessing the effectiveness of social projects.
The general director of the Special Olympiad of Russia, Egor Lebedev (Moscow), discussed social and economic effects with the participants. Cultural scientist, social anthropologist, expert in socio-cultural design Dmitry Lisitsyn (Moscow) assured those present: major sporting events lead to good social results.
Master of Sports of Russia of International Class in Track and Field, founder and chairperson of the foundation for the Development of Sports and Support of Youth Initiatives VYATKA 2.0 Anna Alminova (Kirov) has seen for herself that interaction between different social groups has a positive effect on both the people themselves and on sports in general.
Before the event in Krasnoyarsk, similar events were held in Arhangelsk and Izhevsk.
The conference will end on November 26 with a final meeting in Moscow, where experts will discuss the future of social sports in Russia.
Follow us on Telegram, VKontakte.
Text: Anzhelika Stepanova, Photo: provided by the event organizers
