Tverite came to the big sport after the birth of children and became the champion of Russia

What is tug of war for the average person? Probably nothing more than a primordially Russian fun, which honest people have been having fun for centuries on Maslenitsa and other national holidays. However, to say so would be at least inaccurate.

hobby for mom

The tug of war can be seen in the drawings found in the caves of the Sahara during the excavation of the tomb of Meror-ku. This occupation is mentioned in the Scandinavian sagas of 1000 AD. In India, Korea, Burma, Hawaii and New Guinea, it was part of ritual ceremonies. One team was responsible for the drought, the other for the rain, and which one won, such weather was expected. In Taiwan, tug-of-war is part of the school curriculum, while in Vietnam and Cambodia it is considered an intangible cultural heritage. From 1900 to 1920, tug-of-war was listed as an Olympic sport – the Anglo-Saxons won mainly. And in modern Russia, the sport of “tug of war” was officially recognized only in 2007, when the corresponding order of Rossport was signed. In the Upper Volga region, the Tug of War Federation was formed at the end of 2017, and it turned out that we have many talented athletes. According to the results of the last season, 29 rope walkers from Tver were even included in the national team.

Among them is the 29-year-old candidate for master of sports Daria Bodrova. As part of the Tver Region team, she won the gold medal of the Russian Championship in 2021. Short, strongly knocked down – I wanted to write “girl”, if not for two sons, 5-year-old Plato and 2.5-year-old Miron. The older sports mother has already assigned to the acrobatics section – the boy’s age is the most suitable. However, Daria herself found herself in sports quite recently, two years ago. At an age when many athletes are already thinking about retirement. And then – “This rope found me!”. Not only that – soon kettlebell lifting and arm wrestling were added to the rope.

Already interesting, isn’t it? Unusual leisure for mother of two kids. Even with the help of her husband, having put her children to bed in the evening, a normal mother should thump around without strength. However, the heroine of our essay leaves the house at this hour and heads to the fitness club, where she is waiting for a three-hour workout, a coach who believed in her and teammates. And so three times a week. According to Daria herself, she is experiencing a downright physical need for the loads that can be obtained in the gym.

A person who breaks patterns is always interesting. The correspondent of “MK in Tver” met with Daria Bodrova and asked how she came to such a life.

The Big Deal… with a Rope

Once upon a time in the Tver village named after Krupskaya, a cheerful, energetic girl Dasha, open to the whole world, lived. They say about such people – “a kid in a skirt”, because she had more than enough enthusiasm, and she was not inferior to her friends in any yard pranks. Climb a tall tree – here she is the first.

– Somehow the parents did not worry when we waved to them from above. And we had bungee ropes, and huts, and we caught newts with rotans.

At the same time, she was the only daughter of her mother, and her mother wanted to raise a cultured girl and sent Dasha to a music school, then to a music college. She loved physical education, literature and mathematics at school, but she did not resist at all so as not to upset her mother, and for the prescribed years she diligently learned to play the domra. But, having matured, she soberly assessed her successes and came to the conclusion that she had not achieved noticeable progress.

From that moment on, Dasha took her fate into her own hands. A motto appeared on her VK page, which the reader can see in the title of this article. The girl graduated from evening school, passed the exam and entered the correspondence department of the TV State University, where she learned accounting, analysis and audit.

True, the practical application of knowledge had to be postponed – at the age of 24, Daria became a mother. Then – a new decree, the second child. In general, a young mother twice was discharged from the maternity hospital greatly recovered. She lost five kilos out of 95 gained on her own in a month. And then, on the advice of a friend, she made a “big deal” with the famous Tver coach Ivan Koltakov, the author of motivating programs for those who want to lose weight.

– Just at this time, total coronavirus bans fell, it was impossible to leave the house anywhere. I just ate right, sent him reports and lost 15 kilograms in three months. I ate, excuse me, literally in bowls, it was just food with the right combination of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Plus less salt, less sugar and more water.

When the general self-isolation was canceled, Daria continued to work out in a fitness club and once noticed that when she finishes her workout, some more classes begin, a long track is rolled out on the floor, a rope is laid. These were the “pullers”.

Anchor and puller

Let’s turn to the modern rules of this sport. Each team has 8 participants (plus two substitutes), whose total weight must not exceed the maximum for this weight category. For example, Dasha’s female eight weighs no more than 560 kg. Athletes are located at different ends of the rope, the circumference of which is from 10 to 12.5 cm, and the length is not less than 33.5 meters. A mark is made in the middle of the rope, as well as two marks at a distance of 4 meters from it. On a signal from the referee, both teams begin to pull the rope, trying either to pull it over 4 meters, or so that the opposing team earns a foul, which is counted if one of the team sits down or falls.

Before getting acquainted with tug of war, Daria was always drawn to an active lifestyle – she swam in the pool, went in for sports dancing, step aerobics, etc.

– I realized a long time ago that I enjoy physical activity, but I could not properly organize them for myself. And when I got to the fitness club, I was keenly interested in everything I see. I saw a team of girls similar in age to me, asked Ivan Koltakov, and he told who it was. I approached, asked to try, and they allowed me to stay – but I had to try very hard to be noticed and noted. And then the chairman of our regional tug-of-war federation, Alexander Suvorov, achieved the holding of the national championship in Tver … In general, everyone is given a try, no one is immediately cut off. The coach essentially gives everyone the opportunity to pull the rope, but only those who really work get into the main team.

In the team, says Daria, all roles are assigned. There are pullers – those who pull, and there is an anchor – usually the strongest member of the team, standing at the very tail.

– It is more comfortable for me to anchor, although I can easily be both the first and the second. We won the last championship of Russia when I acted as a puller, and the athlete adds that the rope immediately bribed her with the absence of age restrictions. – In fact, in our sport, the role is played not so much by strength as by endurance. Who will override whom. In general, there are different pulling techniques. Someone jerks, someone “rows”. And if we are on the defensive, we must stand like a driven stake.

By the way, if the tug of war takes place on a grassy lawn, one of the elements of tactics is just the ability to “dig” into the ground with your feet.

The Woman Who Shakes

For reference: the Russian Championship was held in Tver at the end of November 2021 and brought together more than 250 participants from 10 regions of the country. And in total, the women’s team of the Upper Volga region has already won two titles of national champions. Our ladies received the titles of candidates for the master of sports, and before the title of masters of sports they have a mere trifle: to win the Russian championship three more times in a row. These are the rules in this still “new” sport. There is another option: take from 1st to 4th place at the World Championships or be on the podium at the European Cup. What is easier today, you can’t immediately say.

– We are all adults, formed people. Each has its own understanding of the fight, its own character. But we have one goal, and it unites us. We want to confirm our status, that is, to win in any case. I can’t through, I don’t want to. This is such a global goal, akin to a religious one, – Daria explains the philosophy of the fight for the rope.

The backbone of the Tver team is made up of women from 30 to 40, and with children. The template that only single ladies come to take out on a tightrope an undeveloped personal life is completely inappropriate here. The coach of our athletes is the same Ivan Koltakov, a moral authority, “our everything” and a father. Like his more famous colleagues from other sports, he, too, at crucial moments of the competition, can cheer up his wards with an energetic Russian word.

– And how without it! It immediately inspires and motivates, – the athlete laughs.

Recently, Daria Bodrova added to her sporting achievements the first category in kettlebell lifting, which is quite rare for women, performing 129 times a snatch with a pound weight from the floor above her head. For one approach, with one change of hands, for 10 minutes. Five minutes on the right, five minutes on the left. “Show!” – the correspondent of “MK in Tver” did not believe. Showed. “Stop!” – shouted our correspondent, when the wind raised by a flying weight almost blew the notepad off the table.

By the way, Daria also got her own 16-year-old pupil, like a coach. Dasha helped prepare her for the Spartakiad. True, she did not perform very well, but the mentor believes in her potential.

– The fact is that at this age we are not too serious about what we do. You appreciate what you do, when you invest more in it, you work more on the result.

Daria Bodrova herself would be interested in the prospect of trying herself in other sports: “I can go to towns, I can ride a bike, and I can jump with a parachute.” You are no longer surprised by the golden TRP badge against this background.

BLITZ “MK”

– Favorite book?

– Now children’s. “Aibolit” is about a person who does good.

– The favorite music?

– The soul lies in the classics: Vivaldi, Grieg, Handel.

– Favorite movie?

– “Taming of the Shrew”.

– Favorite aphorism?

We attract into our lives what we think about. If we think bad, it will be bad; if we think good, it will be good.

HELP “MK”

The rope, which is used in competitions held during the festival in the South Korean province of Gyeongsangnam-do, is 251 meters long, about 1.4 meters in diameter and weighs 54.5 tons.