In May 2022, St. Petersburg will host a training of volunteer leaders for blind runners, which is conducted by the Sport for Life Charitable Foundation. Everyone will be able to gain knowledge on how to help athletes with visual impairments and get involved in the project.
Petersburgers visually impaired people are already running with volunteer support from the foundation.
The Sports for Life Foundation, which implements this project, has been developing the accessibility of amateur sports for children and adults with disabilities for more than 8 years. With the support of a grant from the President of the Russian Federation provided by the Presidential Grants Fund of the Russian Federation, the fund entered the regions – in addition to Moscow, it works in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg.
The first regional trainings of volunteer leaders for blind runners of the Sport for Life Foundation passed in 2020. More than 250 wards with visual impairments are already training in the project team, and in the volunteer team – 350 helpers.
Now, within the framework of the project “Sports for All – Physical Education and Sports as the Basis for a Healthy Lifestyle”, implemented with the support of the Presidential Grants Foundation, the Foundation ” ;Sport for Life» again conducting a series of trainings.
And in May, a three-day training for volunteer leaders with an updated and expanded program will take place in St. Petersburg!
Who is a volunteer leader? This person goes to the start paired with a blind athlete and helps him overcome the distance. Any person involved in running, with any level of training, can become such a volunteer. You can master the necessary skills at the training.
Anyone can participate in the training – a runner, swimmer, triathlete, cyclist and so on. It can be a person with good physical fitness, and without it. At the training, participants will delve into the nuances of interaction with people with visual impairments, hone their practical skills in training and sports distances. The participants of the training will learn why people with visual impairments want to go in for sports and what prevents them, how to help them in training and competitions. Course participants will receive a certificate. Everyone will be able to join the fund's volunteer team.
“Many amateur athletes would like to do good deeds – but they don't know how. We talk about a simple and useful way. Volunteers find new motivation in their passion for sports. And in communicating with people with disabilities, they comprehend a lot of new things. Our training expands the consciousness of people, we learn to interact with others, to hear each other, – says the director of the “Sport for Life” fund Anastasia Pletmintseva, author and host of trainings.
“Thanks to the team” Marathon in the Dark ” I and other people with visual impairments are leaving our visually limited dimension, – says Pavel Afanasiev, a ward of the project, a resident of St. Petersburg. – Looking back, I see that in a short period of time I made a big leap, I began to feel more confident. And it's all thanks to our volunteers.
“When you see so many wonderful people in one place, it is inspiring! Successful, purposeful, energetic, with their usual problems, so understandable to you. Completely different characters, but when they are directed to Good, they begin to play with their faces, like diamonds. No other goal brings together people who would never have met in ordinary life,” says Svetlana, volunteer leader, participant in the trainings.
“I have been doing sports for a long time. Ever since I came to Marathon in the Dark as a volunteer leader, my horizons have definitely expanded. In ordinary life, I would not have met with such a circle of friends, – says Alexander Smirnov, volunteer leader. – And the social aspect in the work of the project, I think, plays almost the most important role. It changes and enriches everyone».
Training is safe for runners of all levels and ages.
To take part in the training and become As a volunteer leader of the project, you must fill out the questionnaire at the link
Then the curator will contact you. The training lasts three days, you must attend each class.
WHERE AND WHEN: St. Petersburg. The training will take place on May 10, 12 and 14, 2022.
Address: Interactive space “The World at Touch”, Ligovsky Prospekt, 87, 2nd floor. Metro station «Ligovsky prospect» or “Rebellion Square”.
Contacts for communication: mvt.spb@gmail.com
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