Centre “Our Kids” hosted the First Ukrainian Inline-skater Hockey Championship

On the 21st and 22nd of May the Centre “Our Kids” was the host of the First Ukrainian Senior Inline-skater Hockey Championship. It was a real two-day sports fest!

We all were able to witness the start of the development of a new roller-skating discipline here in Ukraine. After all, roller hockey appeared in Ukraine in 2004 as an amateur sport, that quickly gained popularity among the athletes and fans, but only in 2016 the first official games took place.

The grand opening of the Championship began with a performance by a musical drums ensemble “Our kids”.

To greet the contestants – 7 teams from Kyiv, Odessa, Lutsk, Pryluky, and Kryvyi Rig – came the guests of honor: Mykola Movchan – the Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports; Sergiy Taruta – member of the Parliament and the Head of the GPUSU Supervisory Board; Mykola Kuleba – Commissioner of the President of Ukraine for Children’s Rights; Illya Shevlyak – Head of the Sport Committee in Ukraine; Oleksandr Symonenko – President of the Ukrainian Roller Sports Federation; Sergiy Timofeev – Chairman of the Public Council under the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

The grand opening continued with a demonstration game between two junior teams – “Telbin Riders” and “Bilyi Bars”. Symbolically, the children played in a draw – friendship won! After all the players on the Championship are contenders, but in life they are friends and partners. Mykola Kuleba and Oleksandr Symonenko thanked the children and gave each of them a present. The First Ukrainian Senior Inline-skater Hockey Championship was declared open!

The Championship lasted for 2 days. By the end of the first round the leader is the “Respublika” club from Kyiv. Our club – “Telbin Riders” – got 2nd place.

Next rounds will be held on June 18-20 in Odessa, July 23-24 in Lutsk, September 24-25 in Odessa again and the final round will be on October 19-20 in Kyiv.

The Championship was held under the auspices of the Ukrainian Roller Sports Federation (URSF), supported by the German-Polish-Ukrainian Society in Ukraine (GPUSU). The objective of the First Ukrainian Inline-skater Hockey Championship was to assist the development of this roller sport discipline in Ukraine, its expansion with the kids, youths and adults, popularization of the active types of leisure and healthy lifestyle, as well as tryouts for the members of the National inline-skater hockey team for participating in the Championship and European Cup in 2017.