A major project of the Ukrainian Rafting Federation was launched in the beginning of the new 2020. The main objective of the project is to promote the sport rafting among children by providing year-round training. It covers 8 cities and many schools, said Oleksandr Bakanychev, the President of the federation.
With the support of the Ministry of Education, more than 450 pupils between the ages of 10 and 15 start training rafting in physical education classes. In Kiev, 139 children train three times a week in swimming pools. Boys are 75% of those willing. Project funding of around € 50.000 is provided by sponsors. The bulk of it is for pool fees and coaches as 50% of the coaches are volunteers.
The pupils in the countryside will start training by the end of February. In a year, the state will get also involved in financing the big project. It was hard to find sponsors and convinced the people from the Ministry of education to change their programs for years because of the advantages of the sport rafting, but we managed, shared the President.
