In Chelyabinsk, the ChTZ Olympic reserve school for artistic gymnastics is being updated

Rate for examination

The gymnastic school of the Olympic reserve of the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant is the name of this famous forge of champions in the past. It all started with an artistic gymnastics section, which was founded by the spouses Tatyana and Viktor Nikitin. She joined the sports school, and a little later the institution became specialized. Alexander Demin, director of the ChTZ SSHOR, and in the past its student, an international master of sports, began to head the school last summer. According to him, once a boiler house was based in this building, which heated the ChTZ area.

“Last summer we carried out an examination of the building for its further use. Experts confirmed that the school would stand for several more decades, and then they calculated all the estimates for major repairs,” says Alexander Demin. It was not by chance that they decided to carry out the examination – the previous management believed that the building would not withstand reconstruction.

Last fall, we managed to put the heating system in order. The city allocated more than 2.5 million rubles for these purposes. Training was temporarily held at sports school No. 4 because it was cold in the gym. This year a medical office appeared here. Of course, there was one at the “old” school, about twenty years ago, but over time it closed. Recently, a device for bacterial air treatment was installed here, they will soon purchase other equipment, and next year they will begin licensing a medical center and searching for a paramedic.

“The requirements for modern offices have become more stringent, so a major overhaul was necessary,” explained the director.

Once upon a time there was a locker room at SSHOR, but then it turned into an office for security guards and a warehouse. This year it is being restored, and full-scale work is also underway in two toilet rooms – for adults and children. Everything must be done in accordance with the strict requirements of Rospotrebnadzor.

“This can be compared to a room where there is only a rough finish. They beat off the plaster, opened up the floors and made a dry screed,” Alexander Demin describes the scope of work.

If a contractor is found and everything goes well, the roof of the school will be replaced this year. It is noticeably dilapidated and leaks during heavy rainfall. This interferes with activities, because water even gets on sports equipment. Perhaps next year it will be possible to carry out a major renovation of the building, excluding the above-mentioned updated areas. The administration of Chelyabinsk allocates funds for repairs, and the school also attracts its own extra-budgetary funds. However, it’s not just about money; finding professional and committed contractors today is a big problem. The school also began purchasing sports equipment, equipment, and magnesium for athletes (a product designed to dry hands and increase the reliability of the grip. – Author), and students now have the opportunity to travel to training camps and competitions outside the region.

Keep the mark

Today there are just over three hundred young athletes at the school. SSOR has four departments: artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, artistic acrobatics, artistic gymnastics for persons with intellectual disabilities (PID).

“At the end of last year, the guys in the second adult category won the Olympic Hopes in Vladimir. 14 teams from all over the country took part in the competition, and we became the winners. These are Alexander Bikbulatov, Kirill Tselnik, Semyon Kalistratov and Victor Glinkin. This year, our guys won four medals at the national artistic gymnastics championship,” the school director lists the merits of his students. — Semyon Kalistratov became the champion in the parallel bars exercises, he became second in the all-around, and third in the floor exercises. Semyon was included in the reserve of the Russian artistic gymnastics team. Pavel Kopytov took bronze on uneven bars. Now our athletes are preparing for team competitions at the Russian Championships in Penza. We don’t have any special illusions, because gymnastics is a technically difficult sport, but I’m sure that the guys will perform well. At the end of this year we will again compete at the “Olympic Hopes”, compete in the second adult category.”

For more than ten years, a department for artistic gymnasts with intellectual disabilities has been operating at the school.

“I won’t say that every year a large number of students come to us in this area, but those who study have achieved excellent results. Many guys were included in the national team, they win championships and championships, there is a Special Olympics. We haven’t been traveling abroad lately, but the athletes have traveled all over Russia and won many awards,” says Alexander Demin.

The school’s pupils are also achieving success in rhythmic gymnastics. At the championship of the Ural Federal District in February of this year they became winners in team exercises.

SSHOR has 48 employees, many of whom have been working here for decades. “The guys are still being trained by my native coach Mars Ragibovich Khusainov, choreographer Natalya Nikiforovna Chernysheva and Valery Gerasimovich Zdorov,” says Alexander Demin. “They trained more than one generation of sports masters. The school has a rich history, we have always tried to keep the bar high. Olympic reserve status is not simply assigned – it must be confirmed every four years. This means that at Russian championships our guys become leaders. Artistic gymnastics does not stand still in Chelyabinsk. We have another strong school – SSHOR No. 4. There is a cyclical pattern in our sports: in some years there is a decline, in another there is an increase. The guys are of different ages, so the number of medals also varies in different periods.”

From October 25 to 28, the traditional “Young Gymnast” competition will start in Chelyabinsk. More than two hundred athletes aged 5 to 10 years will take part in them. The competition is dedicated to All-Russian Gymnastics Day, which is celebrated on the last Saturday of October. Of course, the school’s young gymnasts are actively preparing for them.

“These competitions originated back in the 90s, they identify the best among the students of our schools in artistic gymnastics – SSHOR No. 4 and SSHOR “ChTZ,” said Maxim Kleshchevnikov, head of the department for physical culture and sports of the Chelyabinsk administration. “This kind of competition helps athletes, coaches, and heads of institutions achieve success. The winners of the “Young Gymnast” always became participants in the city and regional teams. Today the tournament also attracts athletes from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Omsk and other Russian regions, the republics of Kazakhstan and Bashkortostan.”

“The guys train every day for three hours, but even during this time they can’t do everything, so they come early and work out the details, because they are very important in artistic gymnastics,” says Vladimir Grigorkin, coach of the ChTZ Sports School. — Our school has been winning the “Young Gymnast” competition for the last four years, every year we seriously prepare to keep the mark. And this time we also hope to win.”