Ukrainian swimmer, world champion and Olympic silver medalist, Denys Sylantiev has been exploiting his pro athlete fame to encourage Ukrainians to become fitter. This paper’s Ukrainian-language edition covered his campaign before, describing the “Day ‘C’ – Champion’s Day” event, when the swimmer gathered over 8,000 Kyivites for a mass exercise session on Obolonska Embankment (see Den, No. 182, Tuesday, October 8, 2013)! The athlete’s current project is not as spectacular, but no less ambitious, as he aims to restore the practice of morning exercises to schools. The Day decided to ask Sylantiev about his new initiative.
How did you come up with such a project?
“I have been engaging in civic activities since 2008, working to promote sports, fitness, and healthy lifestyle. Some of these were projects dealing with improving the younger generation’s health. Even then, we constantly had to face the reality of contemporary Ukrainian children’s deprivation of the opportunities that we had in the Soviet time, such as sports facilities and playgrounds. Most kids spend all their time, at school as well as at home, at the computer, leading a sedentary lifestyle. Then, it occurred to us: ‘Why do not we try to revive some of the good things that we had during our childhood, namely, morning exercises at school?’ Our first step was the “Become a Champion” project, whereby I conducted exercises for children on the radio. Each session was themed, so that, for example, we pretended to be traveling by sea throughout a week, and all the exercises in that week were associated with sea travel in some way. On other occasions, we ‘went to the zoo’ or ‘traveled to different countries,’ as I tried to keep children interested.
Our next project was the “Day ‘C’” when we managed to bring together thousands of people on the street to exercise. Our latest idea was to introduce morning exercises directly to schools. I joined forces with specialists in the field to develop exercises for different age groups of children. We have been supported by the Department of Education and Science, Youth and Sports of the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA), while instructors from Kyiv Hrinchenko University have made certain adjustments to our program. Of course, it is only a recommendation. I think if we tried to implement it as a compulsory item on the curriculum, it would cause resentment instead of acceptance. Everyone is welcome to use it, as all instructions have been posted on the university’s Institute of Postgraduate Education’s website. Also, I myself have been visiting schools, talking with children, telling them about my experience in sport, doing exercises with them. We plan to add video lessons in the future, enabling students to emulate the taped session when doing exercises. It will, in particular, allow us to avoid putting additional burden on teachers. So far, the experiment is active only within Kyiv, but we hope that other cities will follow the example of the capital.”
How have children and the educational community met your initiative?
“We carried out a survey among students. When asked whether they would like to participate in such exercises, 80 percent responded in the affirmative. As for the educational community, I have repeatedly talked about this program at departmental meetings in the KCSA to principals and vice-principals for education, and have always met only support and understanding. Many of them invited me to visit their institutions. Actually, this is what prompted me to visit schools. In my opinion, personal example will do much more to teach kids a healthy lifestyle than just a teacher’s announcement that from now on, all students have to do morning exercises. So I am trying to promote my program not only via the relevant government agencies, but by personal communication as well.”
Are the proposed exercises not hard on students, especially in the morning when they are only half-awake?
“Far from being hard, they are even fun for them! We are not talking push-ups or running here. These are exercises that can be done in one place. Students stretch, warm up the neck, hips, knees, hands, shoulders, and the whole body. These exercises help children better tolerate stress and tension that they have to endure sitting all the day at the desk.”
I know that you got children with special needs involved in your campaign, too. How did they react? Were there any complications?
“Yes, we have organized a special event for children with Down syndrome, and they exercised with no less interest and pleasure than other children! I was even a little surprised, because the program was only slightly adjusted for them. Perhaps this is also evidence that the program has been developed correctly. When approached correctly, children with Down syndrome exhibit a variety of skills, learning to dance, to swim, etc.”
