Kalynivka — one of three cities in Vinnytsia Oblast, alongside Vinnitsa and Khmilnyk, that became the venue for the sports festival "Open Football Lessons."

This is a joint project organized by the Ukrainian Football Association together with international partners — UEFA Children's Fund and the Cross-Cultural Projects Association (Denmark).

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"The project aims to provide psychosocial support to children of internally displaced persons, unite them with local children into teams, and group them. It also promotes knowledge about safety in wartime conditions, the philosophy of mass football — joy from playing rather than results at any cost, a healthy lifestyle, volunteer development. Additionally, humanitarian kits in the form of balls and sports equipment are provided within the project, and each participant received t-shirts and caps with the festival logo," — explains one of the coordinators of the project, coach of the local children's youth sports school "Avangard" Hennadiy Marchuk.

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According to him, Kalynivka became one of the places where this project was implemented because there is appropriate sports infrastructure, professionals, and long-standing football traditions.

Hennadiy Marchuk together with his colleague Oleksiy Pivovar, also a coach at DYSK "Avangard," underwent special training.

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In the implementation of this event, they were helped by local volunteers. For example, the director of Lyceum No. 2 of Kalynivka City Council Svitlana Hetman, a graduate of children's youth sports school "Avangard" Anastasiya Buial'ska, civic activist Yevheniya Marchuk, field hockey coaches Vitaliy Bondarchuk and Oleksiy Popov, students from local schools.

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In the end, a bright sports event took place in which over 140 children participated. All of them were united into 12 teams based on the number of sectors that the football field was divided into and had to be visited sequentially.

A separate sector was allocated for a police officer who informed the children about how to act upon discovering dangerous objects.

Photo kalynivka.city

At each of the small fields, volunteers waited for participants. They organized competitions, various games, and contests.

And this was not so much about football (sometimes — not at all about football), but rather about teamwork, intelligence, coordination of movements, and, of course, a good mood.

Participants of this festival did not lack it, as laughter could be heard throughout the event, and children's faces were simply radiating smiles.