The Western Regional Football Association of Rivne organized an event that was attended by 22 children from Ostroh and Rivne. Parents of the children, their coaches, and honored guests were also present.

Inclusive sections are a project implemented by the Rivne Oblast Football Association with support from the Ukrainian Football Association (UAF) and international partners. The main goal is to involve children with disabilities in football and help them socialize through sports.

There are two inclusive sections operating in the Rivne region—one in Rivne and one in Ostroh. On World Football Day, the ROFA invited both groups for an open lesson. Everything was done to ensure that children acquired new skills, interacted with each other, and received positive emotions!

They had to practice in a room without lighting as the event coincided with scheduled power outages.

"Today is World Football Day. On such holidays, we must remember those who need kindness, attention, and sensitive care the most. That's why we organize these events regularly. Today, two combined groups of children and their parents are celebrating this holiday in what I believe to be a rather dark atmosphere in the country but with bright eyes and warm hearts,"— shared Oleksiy Khakhlyov, head of ROFA.

First, Yuri Nakonechny, a teacher from Lyceum No. 27, led the children through a warm-up session. Then everyone performed exercises together. The day concluded with a football match. All activities involved player Dmytro Klyots of Rivne's "Veres."

"When you look at these kids, they always energize you. Working with such children makes you feel it twice as strongly. You see how hard it is for them and remember yourself in the locker room or on a training ground or football field. After meetings like this, you carry that emotion into your game and want to work even harder. Looking at them, you have no right not to give your all on the pitch or lower your life's standards. It was nice to play with them, do various exercises, and see smiles on their faces,"— shared Dmytro Klyots.

Yuri Nakonechny trains children from an inclusive section created by ROFA at the base of school No. 27. Today he also worked with children from another section.

"In these times, when there's war and many stressful situations—no light, air raids, canceled classes, schools being evacuated—it is very important for children to switch off, get positive emotions, move around so that the hormone of happiness can be released. When we had our first sessions, I was worried not everyone would like it, but then I asked their parents and they said everything suited them; it's tough, but they're happy,"— noted Yuri Nakonechny.

Another inclusive section is based at the communal institution "Rivne Oblast Children and Youth Sports School for People with Disabilities" and Ostrozhskaya Special School No. 1. There, children are trained by coaches from the regional center "Invasport."

"For our kids, this is incredibly important because besides their daily educational and training process, they have such events here where they gain new knowledge and skills, including from professional footballer of RNK 'Veres' Dmytro Klyots. This is very important for them. Thanks to these events, they improve their mastery, find new friends, expand their social circle. So they undergo broader socialization in society,"— commented Volodymyr Murin, deputy director of the communal institution "Rivne Regional Center for Physical Culture and Sports for People with Disabilities 'Invasport.'"

None of this would have been possible without support from both Ukrainian and international colleagues.

"We also want to express gratitude to the coordinators from UAF who put in great effort during the preparatory stage for opening sections so that lessons could be fun and comfortable. It's nice that thanks to football, we can support the generation growing up,"— noted Taras Kyr'yanchuk, coordinator of ROFA for children's protection and member of the Executive Committee of Ukraine's Youth Football League.

After the completion of the combined open lesson, all participants received gifts. They also agreed to meet again in this format.