The "Open Football Lessons" program, developed by the Ukrainian Football Association, has started in Lviv Oblast and began with a launch in Sosnovka.

This event gathered nearly 150 children aged between eight and fourteen years old at the Sosnovka stadium. In the twelve quadrants of the football field, they were worked with by qualified instructors dressed in sports attire, including Andriy Smolskyi, Volodymyr Hevko, Andriy Chulyk, Stepan Solchanyk, Roman Brandibur, Yurii Oliinyk, Ivan Tomkiv, Lyudmila Skrypnytska, Oleh Kuzik, Yurii Havalko, psychologist Halyna Komynko, and police officers who held a discussion with the children on preventing juvenile delinquency.

Photos by Halyna Komynko

The older team trainer Vasyl Havalko, coaches Vitaliy Zaiats and Serhii Vask (formed based on the Redivivus District Children's Sports School No. 2, director - Oleksandr Voyvod), Mykola Stepanovych and Volodymyr Semenyuk (formed based on the Redivivus District Children's Sports School No. 1, director - Vasyl Ustenko) also joined in with games and physical exercises involving a large amount of sports equipment.

In addition to local children, children from internally displaced families from Kyiv, Bucha, Irpin, Boryspil, Odesa, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Chornobaivka, Lysychansk, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Odesa regions also participated in the "Open Football Lessons."

Everything was under the watchful eye of the regional coordinator for this project in Lviv Oblast, Executive Director of the Lviv Football Association Stepan Ponaide.

Photos by Halyna Komynko

At the end, each child received a participant diploma and an exclusive T-shirt from the UAF. Teams also got footballs for training sessions, while children from internally displaced families additionally received medical kits, food packages, and first-aid items. Most importantly, the children felt safe, enjoyed themselves, and spent their time together in a healthy manner.

The goal of "Open Football Lessons" is to support the protection of children who are temporarily residing in western regions of Ukraine, unaccompanied children, orphans, and other vulnerable children affected by war. Currently, this project is being implemented in Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Rivne, Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, and Chernivtsi Oblasts.

Photos by Halyna Komynko

The Lviv Football Association expresses gratitude to the football club "Rochin" (Sosnovka), stadium employee Yurii Dorosh for excellent field preparation, Redivivus city mayor Andriy Zalivskyi, parents of children, and everyone who contributed to this large-scale sports and psychosocial event.

It is planned that at the end of June, "Open Football Lessons" will visit Morsyn.