One Team season for our team started in unusual environment. This year the Army Men ambassadors meet the girls from Moscow cadet’s school called Boarding school of Ministry of Defense of Russian Federation.
First, it should be mentioned that all the Schools pupils are the daughters of soldiers who serve in distant regions, kids from incomplete or large families, daughters of soldiers killed in the line of duty or those who participated in military operations and decorated with medals for war services. Their regimen can be called isolated: the school is very comfortable and fully equipped but it is closed from the outside world. So the visits to basketball games are becoming a big event for the pupils.
Actually for the cadettes from the school’s basketball section the CSKA initiative conisted of two parts. First, they visited our team’s game vs Nizhny Novgorod on Sunday and met the One Team Ambassadors Kyle Hines and Victor Khryapa. On Monday it was the School’s turn to open the doors for the visitors: our club’s delegates came to the girls’ practice. The clinic for young basketball lovers was conducted by the One Team Ambassador Sergey Tarakanov as well as the junior project representatives, coach Leonid Spirin, players Denis Kovalev and Dmitry Chernenko.
Sergey Tarakanov played the role of motivator. The Olympic champion said that basketball is not just a spectacular sport, but it is a game that allows you to make friends, to reach your personal goals and to help others. Leonid Spirin was a main host of the clinic. Sometimes it looked like the famous coach’s exercises are too complicated but the girls asked for advanced level, their basketball preparation was good enough. Therefore Leonid even showed a couple of offensive set plays to the leaders of the School’s team.
It should be mentioned that the number of participants was bigger than it was initially planned. The younger group enjoyed basketball atmosphere during the Sunday game so much that they asked to join the senior girls. The visitors payed attention to everyone. Even if somebody needed even more attention, there will be no disappointment: CSKA representatives promised to come again.
