Two years after fleeing Ukraine, Kyrylo Kravtsov is Southwest German champion. The 17-year-old has found a new home at the Judo Club Wiesbaden – and not just in sports.
Audio contribution
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04:01 Min.
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23.02.24
|Celine Schäfer
This is what is happening to Ukrainian refugees in Hesse two years after the start of the war
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A small bow, a quick handshake. Then Kyrylo Kravtsov fixes his training partner at the Judo Club Wiesbaden, grabs him by the judo suit and throws him to the ground. Movements like the ones the 17-year-old trained every day at the sports boarding school in Zaporizhzhia – until he had to leave Ukraine in spring 2022.
Kyrylo remembers the day the war began. He found out from his mother: “It was six in the morning. I was actually going to early training, then I heard my phone ringing. It was my mother who said it had started.”
With an old school bus to Wiesbaden
Kyrylo and around 30 other young people from the sports boarding school spent a few days in a basement. Then one of the trainers took the initiative and drove the young people to Germany in an old, yellow school bus. “The journey took 15 days,” says Kyrylo.
Kyrylo’s trainer had contacts with the Judo Club Wiesbaden. He called there and took the bus to the Hesse state capital. For Kyrylo, judo became a bridge between Ukraine and Germany: “I was part of the club from my first day.”
The approximately 30 young people from Zaporizhia are now just as much a part of the Judo Club Wiesbaden as the two trainers Kyryll Vertynskyi and Stanislav Bondarenko. They lead the training sessions together with German coaches.
In addition to sport, the JCW immediately set up a sponsorship program; volunteers support the young people with official visits and German courses. Kyrylo lives in a shared apartment organized by the association: “There is a lot of willingness to help. No matter who I turn to, I get support. I feel like part of a family here.”
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Brother fights in Ukraine
Kyrylo’s parents are still in Ukraine. His mother was in Germany for a month, but couldn’t imagine life here. After many years at the sports boarding school, Kyrylo is very independent. Nevertheless, he sometimes feels homesick: “I think of my home, I think of the Black Sea, where I was happy. I was able to visit my grandparents.”
He particularly often thinks about his brother, who is in the army: “I am aware that things are much better for me here. I perceive my life differently now that I know that good friends and acquaintances died in the war.”
“See my future life in Germany”
The talented judoka wants to take his life into his own hands in Germany. He is currently doing the B2 German course and is looking for a training position in Wiesbaden: “I would like to gain a foothold in German society.”
Kyrylo has already left big footsteps in Hessian sport. At the beginning of the year he became U21 Hessen champion in the class up to 81 kilograms. And a few days ago he secured the Southwest German title: “Whether in Ukraine or in Germany – I have the same goal: win gold medals.”
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hessenschau update – The newsletter for Hesse
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2024-02-24 09:37:12
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