President's team hockey players congratulated orphanage children and held training session for them
There have been many guests at the Bobruisk’s orphanage today: the Presidential Sports Club’s representatives and the hockey players of the President's team came to congratulate boys and girls on Christmas and New Year. The Christmas Tradition charity event – organised in Belarus since 2013 – has brought many positive emotions to all its participants.
The meeting of Andrei Bashko, Yaroslav Chupris, Stepan Goryachevskikh, Konstantin Durnov, Andrei Kostitsyn and other players of the President's team with boys and girls began at the Bobruisk-Arena. Children were presented with brand-new skates – to further join the hockey players on the ice. The sportsmen taught them not only skating: they also explained how to use clubs and jointly participated in various competitions. Boys and girls were delighted! By the end of the impromptu training session, the orphanage children felt quite confident on the ice and even tried to throw pucks at Stepan Goryachevskikh’s goal.
Andrei Kostitsyn, who took part in the campaign for the first time, commented, “The impressions are great! It is great that children liked everything. They are smiling and overwhelmed with emotions. Boys and girls were in such a mood, as if it was the New Year holiday. They were waiting for us to come with the same emotions as while they are waiting for Father the Frost. We have met their expectations, and they all received gifts, could make photos and play with us. I think they will have wonderful emotions after this meeting.”
Actually, that was just the beginning. After the training session, the hockey players joined children to return to the orphanage: there, rabbits from a contact zoo were waiting for boys and girls. An interesting performance – Alice in Wonderland – was also staged by the Trubadur Theatre.
It is hardly possible to overestimate the significance of such an event for children. Forty boys and girls aged 4-13 (all with special needs) live in Bobruisk’s orphanage. Its Director, Marina Sharko, admitted: while watching how children were communicating with the hockey players, she was overwhelmed with joy and pride. The eyes of girls were sparkling, while boys straightened their shoulders and even tried to become a little taller, because sportsmen are real fairy tale heroes for them. No wonder that, after the meeting, all children unanimously declared that they would like to be hockey players!
“This is not the first time we have participated in the Presidential Sports Club’s campaign. It is a wonderful tradition, which makes it possible to bring new emotions from each place. I have been impressed here by children’s desire to play hockey," Andrei Bashko, the Secretary General of the Belarusian Hockey Federation, said. “Boys and girls loved the game – asking for the next training session to participate in. Of course, we will think over this issue. We will try to help so that children can train. Our Hockey Going to Children project is being realised in Pruzhany, Luninets and Ivatsevichi, and schoolchildren are taught to skate there. We will probably try to implement something similar here.”
Children received many gifts: the President's team brought trampolines, bicycles, and scooters. The Presidential Sports Club prepared presents for everyone, also rendering its traditional financial support to the orphanage.
“Apart from the sponsorship assistance, it is very important that this event was educational in nature. Our children looked at the hockey players, these strong-willed, courageous people, and wanted to be the same. I believe they have a goal in their life now. Boys and girls have realised today that – to achieve it – they need to work hard and be disciplined,” Ms. Sharko noted.
