Ukraine: 29 communities have already joined the project

The first results of the “Open Fun Football Schools”: 29 communities have already joined the project.

This season the “Open Fun Football Schools” project was held in a new format, adapted to all sanitary and anti-epidemic norms, with the greatest attention paid to migrant children from the East and Crimea, as well as to the children of servicemen.

The season of this year’s festivals began with studying – three seminars were already held in Zaporizhia for volunteers and project leaders. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the seminars focused on training volunteers to carry out project activities in a new format adapted to all sanitary and anti-epidemic norms. In addition, new materials were developed during the seminars by the leading experts of the project on the topics of classes on the grounds: football techniques; development games; fun games; healthy lifestyle formation; psychologist’s games; policeman’s games and materials. 

Volunteers have also got an interesting experience at the “Sport + School + Police” seminars, which were organized by the project partner – the All-Ukrainian Foundation for Children Rights – in Kharkiv in March and in Vinnytsia in July.

 Also in April and May, one-day-trainings were organized at the local level for youth leaders – future volunteers of the project in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Odesa, and Kyiv regions. 

 As of August this year, 29 projects have been implemented in 29 local communities, which included, in addition to the educational component, a set of events – from the festival of the “Open Fun Football Schools ” (an important football holiday) to various physical culture and sports events, held according to the project methodology: competitions, lessons, class sections, sports holidays with a special focus on children of migrants and servicemen. 

 During the first eight months of this year, 59 such events were held with the participation of 8,200 children and 533 volunteers.

At the request and initiative of local communities, the central events of the project, the festivals of the “Open Fun Football Schools “, were held according to the following schedule:

12-15.04.2021Dnipropetrovsk region, Vilnohirsk
26-29.04.2021Dnipropetrovsk region, townlet Magdalinivka
26-29.04.2021Donetsk region, Kramatorsk, Bernatsky Garden
27-30.04.2021Cherkasy region, Shpola district, village Lebedyn
12-15.05.2021Kharkiv region, Kharkiv district, townlet Pisochyn
13-16.05.2021Dnipropetrovsk region, Verkhnodniprovsk
13-16.05.2021Donetsk region, Dobropillia, Nezalezhnosti street, «Avangard» Stadium
13-16.05.2021Vinnytsia region, Lypovets
17-20.05.2021Donetsk region, Selydove, «Shakhtar» stadium
17-20.05.2021Zaporizhia region, Mykhailivka district, village Rozdol, «Tavriia Skif» Stadium
18-21.05.2021Kyiv region, Obukhiv, Kyivska street, 142-a, stadium named after V. Melnik
18-21.05.2021Kherson region, Nova Kakhovka, ave. Dniprovskyi, 28, «Enerhiia» Stadium
18-21.05.2021Zaporizhia, Perspektyvna street, 2-b, «Tytan» stadium 
18-21.05.2021Zaporizhia region, Orikhiv, Pokrovska street, «Orikhiv» stadium
18-21.05.2021Ternopil region, Zbarazh
19-22.05.2021Ivano-Frankivsk region, Kosiv
21-22.05.2021Donetsk region, Sviatohirsk, Kiltseva street, 95, camp «Pearl of Donetsk» (entirely at the expense of own local resources)
21-24.05.2021Luhansk region, Bilovodsk, Kaziuminskoho street, 18, «Yunist» stadium
21-24.05.2021Kharkiv region, townlet Dvorichna
21-24.05.2021Luhansk region, Novopskov, Partyzanska street, 7-b, «Budivelnyk» stadium
24-27.05.2021Kharkiv region, Liubotyn
25-28.05.2021Odessa region, Odessa district, village Usatove, Uriadovyi lane, «Khadzhybei» stadium
27-30.05.2021Volyn region, Kovel district, townlet Holoby
28-31.05.2021Zhytomyr region, Radomyshl
30.05-2.06.2021Mykolaiv region, Berezanka district, village Krasne, stadium
31.05-3.06.2021Kropyvnytskyi, KSPU stadium named after Vinnichenko
6-9.06.2021Mykolaiv region, Novyi Buh, city stadium
22-25.06.2021Lviv region, Sambir district, village Sprynia
05-08.08.2021Chernivtsi region, townlet Putyla

Nowadays 2,900 children, who have not played sports before (more than 30% of them are girls), and 700 volunteers have taken part in the festivals.

Among the positive results of the project, in addition to purely statistical indicators, the following should be noted as well:

 – Important social focus on helping the integration and resocialization of children migrated from the East and Crimea, as well as children of servicemen;

 – Most of the involved children, after participating in the project, start attending football sections;

 – A large influx of girls, who learned the basics of the football game for the very first time, into a grassroots football;

 – Most of the volunteers expressed a desire to become regular participants of UAF social projects. Some volunteers wished even to undergo advanced training in the recently introduced UAF D-diploma courses;

 – As a result of the project, the regions received a large number of soccer balls, sports equipment, and gear, which is especially relevant for small towns and rural areas;

 – Regional football associations and local communities have shown great interest in the proposed innovative approach, as a result of which not only boys and girls, but also families, local leaders, school and educational community, teachers and coaches, representatives of the National Police, psychologists, youth leaders, not indifferent local patrons took part in the project.

 – successful cooperation of the National Police with the school of young football fans regarding children safety and protection, prevention of juvenile delinquency and conflict. 

Also in August in Zaporizhia, seminars for project leaders were held. And at the end of August, then in autumn as well, the “Open Fun Football Schools”, postponed from being held in spring due to lockdown, will start in several regions of Ukraine. 

This publication has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. Its content is the sole responsibility of the Ukrainian Association of Football and does not necessarily reflect the position of the European Union.