ALROSA to continue "Cheer" sports festival in Yakutia in 2018

In December 2017, a sports festival "Cheer" took place in the diamond province of Yakutia. ALROSA brought stars of basketball and acrobatic rock'n'roll to Mirny, Aikhal and Udachny. During two weeks, locals of the towns had opportunity to participate in master classes, open lessons and exhibition games for free. Several thousands of children and adults visited the events. In 2018, ALROSA will continue to organize festivals with participation of different sports representatives.  

"Cheer" festival was initiated by ALROSA with the support of the company's sports partners: VTB United League and All Russian Federation of Dance Sports and Acrobatic Rock'n'Roll (FDSARR). The festival lasted for two weeks of December; it covered schools, cultural and sport complexes of diamond towns. Cooperation with sports federations and leagues is not just an image for ALROSA. The company seeks to provide an opportunity for its employees and their families to do sports and develop sports achievements, as well as promote the healthy lifestyle.  

The first week of "Cheer" festival was devoted to basketball. Representative team of VTB United League held 36 basketball master classes, 12 open lessons and 6 exhibition games, and gathered more than 3 thousand of participants. One of basketball ambassadors, head coach of Russian national male student basketball team, Anatoly Laptev, told about his expectations for this project and impressions of his visit to the north: "Our job is to attract the maximum number of children to this sport. I can tell you exactly that local schools have rather good sports equipment, PE teachers use good programs while training children. Another issue is that probably there are not enough hours for basketball training; there should be more time for this. Overall, we are very glad to see an excellent physical form of young Northmen".

Former captain of National team and current coach of Russian national team Sergey Bykov: "There are many talented kids here; ALROSA provided nice opportunities for them to do sports. Our mission is to show them proper techniques of training, make them love the game and probably somebody will be able to play basketball professionally. Kids give their best at our events". First part of the festival has completed with performance of Helikon Opera young stars in Mirny.

The second week was marked by acrobatic rock'n'roll that was represented by world's best athletes. Leaders of world acrobatic rock'n'roll rating Pavel Zyuzin and Polina Leonova, finalists of World championship 2017 Mikhail Yershov and Maria Zinchenko, world champions for boogie-woogie 2017 Aleksey Gavrilov and Svetlana Gavrilova, fivefold world champions for acrobatic rock'n'roll Olga Sbitneva and Ivan Yudin came to the diamond region. Statistics of the dance week: two dozens of master classes and open lessons, three evenings of acrobatic rock'n'roll with show and classes, and more than 2 thousand of participants.

As Ivan Yudin mentioned, "If festivals like this are to be held further, it will strongly contribute to sports development". According to Aleksey Gavrilov, a task to destroy the stereotypes, to inspire with this sport was fulfilled. Now, the most important thing is to train the coaches, who will take over the training of athletes here in diamond province. "We are ready to help everyone, provide them with training materials, and hold online workshops. Equipment and facilities are well suited for growing the kids here who will represent our country at international championships", - Ivan Yudin believes.

Having received positive feedbacks from participants and having seen a huge involvement of employees, ALROSA decided to proceed with organizing sports events in Yakutia with participation of entitled athletes. "Cheer" festival will be held on a regular basis with involvement of all sports organizations that ALROSA supports. In addition to VTB United League and All Russian Federation of Dance Sports and Acrobatic Rock'n'Roll there are Russian Ice Hockey Federation, Russian Wrestling Federation, Russian Martial Arts Union. Open lessons, friendly games and other events, free to locals of towns in diamond province, will be organized with participation of famous Russian athletes.

"Social projects are among our priorities. ALROSA aims at providing employees and their families with decent working conditions, developing the social infrastructure of Yakutia. The key focus is the support of sports. Annually, the company spends about 150-200 mln rubles as part of corporate social programs for cultural and sports sections and events for the company's employees. Within the partnership with Russian sports organizations we will also seek to provide not only marketing of the company, but first of all to organize the mass events for locals of the region to give them opportunity to obtain new knowledge and impressions, inspire somebody to do sports and make it accessible", - ALROSA president Sergey Ivanov said.