The main issue on the agenda of the last meeting of the Academic Council of the Empress Catherine II St. Petersburg Mining University was a report on the activities of the Gornyak sports club. Forpost decided to ask its chairman Ilya Panchenko how much importance the oldest technical university in Russia attaches to the development of physical culture and attracting students to a healthy lifestyle.
How important is physical culture for students of technical universities in principle? And how harmoniously is this discipline integrated into the pilot project to improve the higher education system, which is currently being implemented at Mining University?
- Physical education is important for everyone, including students of technical universities. It helps to successfully solve global tasks set by our state: it forms the habit to a healthy lifestyle and promotes the all-round development of personality. In addition, dispute classes allow to build a social bridge between peers, contribute to better communication, more successful teamwork outside the sports ground.
Now St. Petersburg Mining University is implementing a pilot project to improve the system of higher education, and physical training plays an important role in it. The discipline is included in the schedule of compulsory classes up to the 10th semester, earlier it was taught only up to the seventh semester. In addition, the university administration decided that all students should be engaged in general physical training during school hours. And they can realize themselves in soccer, basketball, volleyball and other sports teams outside of school hours. For this purpose the conditions are also created. It is estimated that 1400 people regularly train at all sports facilities in the evenings.
What is more important for you: sports results or, for example, a decrease in the number of diseases among students due to the fact that they harden their health in physical training?
- A strong immunity consists of many components: genetics, lifestyle, absence of bad habits, sleep and rest, psychological state of a person and, among other things, his physical activity. That is, there is no direct correlation between the health of students and physical training, but at the same time, of course, they strengthen the body, contribute to the growth of stress resistance of young men and women, which is also of great importance in the modern world.
For the management of Mining University, sports results are absolutely not in the first place. The opportunity to improve the general health of young people is much more important, and on a mass scale. Conquering Olympic peaks is the destiny of gifted people who have devoted their entire lives to sports. Of course, everyone knows this very well, of course, they come to our university with other goals. Competent engineers, scientists and teachers are trained here. But at the same time, we aim each student to constantly grow and improve himself in terms of physical fitness, and for this he needs to be a little better than yesterday's self every day.
Nevertheless, Mining University is very successful in the city championship among universities. What are your successes?
- Yes, it's really true. The St. Petersburg Championship among higher educational institutions is held in 86 sports. It is the second largest student championship in Russia after the capital. Mining University consistently wins competitions in ballroom dancing and various martial arts: karate, taekwondo and kickboxing.
In 2021 we won the Cup of higher education institutions of the city in the general classification. At the same time, I would like to emphasize once again: the management did not set such a task for us. Our priority is to create conditions for mass involvement of students in a healthy lifestyle. In particular, through participation in city and internal competitions in each sport. By the way, our Mining University holds the largest intramural championship in St. Petersburg - the “Gorny Football League”. Several hundred of our students and employees take part in it.
How would you assess the level of sports infrastructure of the university?
- Students have at their disposal four modern sports complexes, a 25-meter swimming pool, and a huge fitness center equipped with everything they need: barbells, dumbbells, treadmills and advanced models of cardio equipment. I can confidently say that the sports infrastructure of Mining University is one of the most highly developed in Russia. Many applicants, by the way, take this into account when choosing their future place of study.
At Mining University, the Department of Physical Education employs several world champions in various sports. Who could you single out and how does their example influence the students?
There are three world champions working at the Department of Physical Education: in Kyokushinkai Karate - Dmitry Saveliev, in Taekwondo - Alexander Semakov, in boxing - Alexander Zaitsev. Their personal example and the art of teaching “ignite” the students and help them to progress. I have already mentioned above that Mining University consistently becomes the best in interuniversity competitions in these sports. So the positive influence of champions on the younger generation is beyond any doubt.
American and Canadian university teams are real forges for professional hockey, soccer and basketball clubs. It is not uncommon for young people to come from there and become real stars. Could such a system exist in our universities? And do we need it?
- The Western model of a sports club is inappropriate in Russia. First of all, our state undertakes a social mission to attract the masses to physical culture. In the same States, there is no such task on a global scale. Secondly, in the ocean, contracts with students who train in sports clubs are signed by boards of trustees. Such guys can study for a very long time, as their participation in competitions is connected with constant traveling and skipping classes. In our realities this is impossible.
Thirdly, at Mining University, as I have already mentioned, almost 1.5 thousand people are regularly involved in amateur sports. And in American universities - no more than a hundred, and only those who participate in student competitions, can make a show out of them, show results and provide the organizers with profit. No one is interested in the rest from the point of view of their involvement in a healthy lifestyle. In my opinion, Russia has a unique, viable system, and we should certainly not copy Western standards.
Mining University is also involved in popularization of healthy lifestyle and development of sports in St. Petersburg. For example, on the initiative of the university, with the support of the city administration and the sports community, a festival dedicated to the Day of Physical Education Worker was established. The first time it was held at the Petrovsky stadium. This year it will be held in the “Flagstaff” space, where representatives of Mining University will hold sports master classes for the citizens. This project was highly recognized on the margins of the BRICS summit in November 2023.