Olympic infrastructure, trainers from Traktor and big plans for the future – KHL.ru talked to the director of the children’s and youth sports school of HC Sochi and learned how the youngest academy in the KHL is developing.

HC Sochi is one of the few clubs in the league that has not had its own school and youth team for a long time. Until now, the residents of Sochi have been cooperating with the Stupa “Kapitan” in the MHL, but as for the children’s school, things are already much better here. On July 4, 2019, the first admission to the school of HC “Sochi” of children born in 2012-2013 took place. From that day on, the history of the new academy, which is the youngest in the league, is being conducted.

“We want to have teams of all ages”

– After the Sochi Olympics, a hockey club appeared here. It is clear that local residents have a great interest in hockey. In addition, the infrastructure was built palaces, playgrounds, – said the director of the school KHL.ru HC “Sochi” Vyacheslav Ugriumov.

It would be strange if the entire modern hockey infrastructure in the capital of the 2014 Olympics was not used to train future athletes. The Bolshoi Sports Palace, the Shaiba and Iceberg palaces – many simply dream of visiting these facilities, and the pupils of the Sochi school have the opportunity to study there.

– In the Bolshoi Ice Palace, we have access to areas in the hall, both ice arenas: the main and training arenas. But most often our ice training takes place in Iceberg and Puck. In addition, we use the gyms of these palaces, – said Vyacheslav Evgenievich .

The main challenge is outdoor activities in the summer. It is clear that it is quite hot in the south of Russia at this time.

– I would like, of course, that we have covered areas for classes in the summer. We try to do our workouts very early as it gets hot during the day. In addition, sometimes it rains – this is also worth considering, – said Ugryumov. At the same time, classes are organized outside the Olympic Park – the school tries to use the entire city infrastructure.

Now the school has only four ages: teams from 2012 to 2015 year of birth. At the same time, there are no restrictions on the number of children. Anyone can come. For those who do not know how to skate, coaches offer a specific set of exercises. This helps to integrate into the general group. Now about 160 boys study at the school of the HC “Sochi”.

– For the guys in 2012 and 2013, we conducted testing on the basis of the Sirius center, and the teams were reduced. We want to have all ages, starting from six-year-old guys and uploading to the JHL team. In the future, I hope, there will also be a team of its own in the Youth Hockey League, – said Vyacheslav Ugryumov.

“We want to be the flagship school in Russia”

There is a huge interest in the school among Sochi residents. So far, there have been no problems with the recruitment of children.

– There are a lot of newcomers here, they send their children to hockey. Besides us, there are other hockey schools here. Naturally, there are transitions from one school to another. The specifics of the city are imposed – it is elongated. And it is difficult to travel from one end of the city to the other. We take this into account. Most of the guys live in Adler. We want to be the best flagship school. Not only in the Krasnodar Territory, but throughout Russia. We want to win against historically hockey regions, – said Ugryumov .

In the future, the school should have a boarding school, while it is not there. But at this stage, he is not needed – the oldest pupils of the school are only nine years old. It is unlikely that at this age someone from other regions will decide to send their child to live in Sochi.

Coaches from Traktor and Salavat Yulaev

Since the school is completely new, the coaching staff also had to be recruited from scratch. And people with very solid experience work here. Vyacheslav Ugryumov himself from the “Traktor” school, together with him two coaches came to work in Sochi. In addition, two more specialists have work experience at the Salavat Yulaev school.

– At each age we have one coach. But the schedule is created in such a way that each of the specialists can help colleagues with their teams. If necessary, 3-4 coaches can go out to work if the team is divided into several groups. In August, we attracted a goalkeeper coach, who participates not only in general training – he conducts special classes with goalkeepers, – said Ugryumov .

They say that there are a lot of people willing to work at the Sochi HC school. In the future, there will be a separate skating coach and fitness specialist. The school has its own program for the development of players, plus they use the national program for the training of hockey players “Red Machine”, which contains all the recommendations for the preparation of children.

“The Southern District will compete with the hockey regions”

The school’s plans are grandiose. Already, the team born in 2012 is the champion of the championship of the Krasnodar Territory. And she even had principal rivals – from Krasnodar and Simferopol. But in the future, the school of HC “Sochi” would like to play in other regions of the country.

– We want to develop children. I think our potential will allow us to play in Moscow or the Central Federal District. I hope that after the pandemic we will be able to implement our plan. I know that the Yaroslavl school performs at the Moscow Championship. We analyzed this experience and decided that it would be better for us too, – said Ugryumov .

At the same time, the school of HC “Sochi” understands that it is necessary to develop southern hockey as well.

– The higher the level in the south, the better for us. I hope that the Southern Federal District will seriously compete with other districts, – concluded Vyacheslav Evgenievich .

KHL.ru would like to thank the press service of HC Sochi for their help in preparing the material.

Source: KHL