Knowledge Day in Russia: Lesson of Universiade held in Tatarstan

KAZAN – The Lesson of the Universiade was held on September 1^st, Knowledge Day in Russia, in all education institutions of Tatarstan and host city of the 2013 Summer Universiade.

Together with teachers, conducting the extracurricular lessons dedicated to the upcoming multi-sports event, without precedent in the history of modern Russia, were representatives of the executive and legislative authorities, outstanding Olympians, Kazan 2013 Ambassadors and, of course, employees of the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate and volunteers. 

Vladimir Leonov, Director General of the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate, and Ekaterina Gamova, the famous volleyball player and Kazan 2013 Ambassador, held the first lesson early in the morning in the IT Lyceum at the Universiade Village. 

During the lesson Vladimir Leonov called upon the gifted kids of the lyceum to take a more active part in the preparations for the 2013 Summer Universiade. “We must stage the best Summer Universiade together. Each new idea is valuable and interesting to us, each citizen of our republic and especially of Kazan must be aware of his or her level of responsibility for this project.”

Larisa Sulima, Chief of Staff/Advisor to the Director General of the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate, and FISU Director for the Summer Universiade Marc Vandenplas hosted the Lesson of the Universiade for Roman and Germanic Philology majors and Intercultural Communication majors of the Institute of Philology and Arts of Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University. And the most part of the lesson was conducted in English. Taking into account the subject the students major in, they had no need in language services during the presentation. 

FISU SU Director Marc Vandenplas

Marc Vandenplas explained that the main goal he set himself for the day was to inspire, to encourage the audience to get involved, to make them understand how great it is that the Universiade will be held in their home city and how wonderful it is that they can be part of the Summer Unviersiade as volunteers. According to him, the main thing that the Games are usually memorable for is the atmosphere which is almost completely created thanks to the volunteers. Marc Vandenplas also mentioned that he keeps in touch with volunteers he met during the previous Summer Universiades. For the presentation, Marc Vandenplas prepared a lecture on the history and current structure of the International University Sport Federation, goals and tasks that FISU sets itself and many other interesting facts. 

“The initiative that the Executive Directorate of the 27th Summer Universiade has taken upon itself – to conduct the Republic-wide Lesson of the Universiade on Knowledge Day – was just the ticket,” said Larisa Sulima. And we can easily agree here – the project found support in the Government and was backed by the President of Tatarstan personally, State Council and many others. 

“I think that the main thing in our work is to keep in touch with the citizens, to inform parents, kids, students and schoolchildren about the multi-sports event that is expected to come at the end of the academic year,” said Larisa Sulima. “We ventured to stage the sporting event which is almost close in scale to the Olympic Games and our main task for ensuring its successful delivery is to make people ready.” According to her, the 2013 Summer Universiade gives an opportunity to everyone to realise his or her potential. “We need spectators very much, we need fans very much, we need qualified personnel who will be making the Games a reality and we will need to build a team of volunteers together,” said Larisa Sulima. 

It’s first of all young people because the Universiade is held for students, with participation of students, and student music and dance ensembles will be creating the festive atmosphere at Games time. Teachers play a very important part here as well. “Using personal experience and those materials that we have developed, each teacher in Tatarstan will be able to get the complex message about the Universiade across to the very hearts of children,” said Larisa Sulima with confidence. It’s important not only in the context of the World University Games itself but as part of the legacy it is going to leave in Kazan. “It’s very important for us that citizens of Tatarstan are healthy and happy,” she stated. “There are sports venues in each city district of Kazan, people are inspired and they play sports. And it’s all thanks to the Kazan 2013 project.”

It should be noted that conducting the Lesson of the Universiade today were all Deputies Director General of the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate, volunteers and Kazan 2013 Ambassadors. This educational project will be long-running as out-of-school activities dedicated to the World University Summer Games will be held in all high schools across Tatarstan throughout the entire academic year.

(Source: Kazan 2013 Media Dept.)