The president of the Latvian Weightlifting Federation, Viktors Ščerbatihs, has planned a campaign, inviting businessmen to donate, renovate or create weight rooms not only in cities, but also in parishes. One of the activities of the campaign was a visit to the Sunny territorial unit of Kandava Agricultural Technical School.
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Viktor Shcherbatykh is not the only one who believes that parishes should also have modern weight rooms. Dace Savchenko from Brunava Parish also came to the meeting in Saulaine, who hopes to set up a weight room in the village of Grentzäle in time. On the other hand, students want to see a modernized weight room in the Saulaine educational institution.
The current president of the Weightlifting Federation and silver and bronze medal winner of the Olympic Games, Viktor Shcherbatich, has good memories with Saulaines school. At one time, he had the opportunity to train and prepare for competitions here, which was provided by the support of local farmers. He hopes that local entrepreneurs could take care of young people in their parishes.
“Once upon a time, in the 90s of the last century, I trained here a lot and prepared for competitions. At a time when it was difficult for everyone, I had the opportunity to train here. Those were hard years, but supported by the local farmer and educational institution. Even now, young people have a lot of energy, and the weight room is a place to spend this energy and invest in self-development during the winter,” says V. Shcherbatihs.
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Theoretically, the Saulaine educational institution has its own weight room, but its equipment is partly homemade, partly so old that it is already considered worn out. Bauškėnieks Elmārs Kondrats is a member of the student council and one of the activists who hope that the weight room will get new equipment and a new look. “I want to train myself and I do it. It’s useful for hockey practice, where I’m a goalie. I talked to young people, and they admit that they would go to train if the weight room was renovated,” said E. Kondrats.
D. Savchenko has similar feelings. A fitness hall has been created in the Grenctal House of Culture and residents visit it. However, there is a lack of weight room machines, so that there is an offer for young people who want to train with heavier weights. She has tried to ask for a solution in the municipal government of Bauska region, but there is no clear answer. That’s why V. Shcherbatich’s appeal for weight rooms in parishes is also of interest.
“If we would repair the room, buy exercise equipment, then there would be something for both the youth of Saulaine and the local residents to do. When young people expend their energy in the weight room, they will become healthier. It is important for young people to have this choice – when there is nothing to do, they go around the corner not to smoke, but to go to the weight room with a friend,” says V. Shcherbatihs. He points out that the weight room needs a proper floor, suitable exercise equipment and weights, the selection of which can be greatly helped by the Latvian Weightlifting Federation. The idea is to use modern technologies as well – instead of pasting the walls with posters, how and what to do correctly, but adding QR codes to the exercise machines, which will help you get to the websites where everything will be told correctly. That was one of the problems that D. Savchenko also emphasized – weight rooms need specialists who would come at least occasionally and teach them how to train properly.
The Saulaines weight room could be the first project to be implemented, admits V. Shcherbatihs. The main problem at the moment is the confusion with the project implementation system. On the one hand, it could be undertaken by the Latvian Weightlifting Federation, but then it would be a rather complicated process. That is why V. Shcherbatihs invites associations or businessmen who would undertake the organization of projects and collection of donations to which V. Shcherbatihs would provide informative support. Associations would also have the opportunity to apply for Bauska County Council funding for the repair of premises. Therefore, the authors of the idea invite Bauska county associations that would like to cooperate in the creation of a weight room in their parish or place of residence. This idea could be implemented in the joint dialogue and cooperation of residents, associations, entrepreneurs.
