Vitebsk weightlifter Anastasia Mikhalenko won silver at the World Championships

Recently, it became known that Anastasia Mikhalenko, a student of the Vitebsk College of the Olympic Reserve, won a silver medal at the Junior World Weightlifting Championships, which took place in Wroclaw, Poland. And in February, another student of the College of the Olympic Reserve, Daria Blashko, became the best in the sprint at the IBU Junior Open European Championships in Raubichi. What this talent forge represents and how it manages to achieve results was told to "Vitebskiye Vesti" by the director of the educational institution, Dmitry Khoma.

— The college has been operating since 1989 on the basis of a former sports boarding school. The main task facing us is the preparation of reserves for the national teams of Belarus. We are constantly developing in order to adapt to modern conditions, taking into account the economic situation. We are optimizing functions, building an interaction system so that each link of the institution performs its work qualitatively to achieve the maximum result. High labor efficiency can only be ensured if there is a professional recruitment of students, and the coaching staff is formed on the basis of a combination of youth and experience. In addition, strengthening the material and technical base and establishing related infrastructure are of great importance: organization of catering, accommodation, medical care, etc.

— Dmitry Leonidovich, what sports do you cultivate and do you have everything necessary for the training of future Olympians?

— Training is conducted in 14 Olympic sports. The largest departments are athletics and weightlifting, and biathlon. We have over 200 students. They are provided with dormitory accommodation, and more than 90% of them train at our facility — all objects are located within a 100 m radius. Today, the school has all the conditions for organizing a high-quality educational and training process. There is an athletics arena, a roller ski track, boxing, wrestling, and judo halls, a specialized hall for weightlifters, a cycling base, a non-standard athletics stadium, men's and women's recovery centers (saunas), and a gym. We have about 20 coaches and instructors of the highest and first categories working here, including honored coaches — Ivan Belopukhov, Ivan Petrovich, Viktor Vinnik, Alexander Golovnev, Alexander Solonenko, Mikhail Shur.

— Are there any problems with recruiting children?

— There are difficulties in transferring children to the Olympic Reserve School from children's and youth sports schools. However, we are taking measures to improve the situation: we hold meetings with the directors of children's and youth sports schools, physical education methodologists, conduct tryouts, work with senior coaches in specific sports, regional federations, and travel to district competitions. We also conduct an annual assessment of our students twice a year, where we decide on the expediency of their continued education based on their results.

— How is the material and technical base being strengthened?

— The leadership of the region, the Ministry of Sports and Tourism, and the Department of Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Regional Executive Committee pay great attention to us. For example, recently, 200 million rubles were received from Minsk for the purchase of exercise equipment, and a bus worth over 1 billion rubles was purchased using the regional budget. We are also engaged in off-budget activities: Russian athletes are trained at our facility. Last year, we managed to earn about 950 million rubles, which were spent on the purchase of an MTZ tractor, a mower, washing machines, printers, etc. In addition, in 2014, we managed to save 760 million rubles of budget funds, which, in agreement with the financial department of the Regional Executive Committee, were directed towards modernization. At the same time, a number of problems remain, in particular, ventilation needs to be installed in the athletics arena, the ski-roller track is being destroyed, and the construction of the hall for game sports and weightlifting has been ongoing for more than 15 years. But I am confident that these issues will be resolved in the near future through joint efforts with the authorities.

— What results of the students' performances are you most proud of?

— Naturally, this year the international successes of biathlete Daria Blashko and weightlifter Anastasia Mikhalenko have been pleasing. Previously, Artem Smirnov, Boris Smichkov, Maria Kondratieva, and Karina Safronova showed worthy results at world competitions. Our graduates Anastasia Duboreza, Alexey Ivanov, and Maxim Sergeev participated in the Winter Olympics in Sochi. However, victories in junior competitions are not an end in themselves, but merely a pleasant addition to the process of preparing reserves for the national teams of Belarus. The main thing is that the youth approach adult championships in excellent form and that new Olympians appear in the Vitebsk region in the future. The school has glorious traditions and a high bar set by Olympic medalists Igor Lapshin, Alexander Kovalenko, Alexey Aydarov, Sergey Lavrenov, Anna Batyushko, Viktor Zuev, Tatiana Stukalova, and Marina Shkermanova. We do not intend to give up our positions and will try to nurture new stars. In 2015, we already have 2 medals from world-class competitions, but the season is just beginning, so the amount of precious metal will definitely increase. As for the results of performances in official competitions in Belarus, over a hundred of our athletes have climbed onto the podiums.

— Do you have any additional incentives to motivate students and their mentors?

— We have introduced a flexible system of bonuses and monthly allowances for results for coaches. We also encourage the most gifted students. For example, we organize excursions and trips to significant sporting events for the best students, and we have established a scholarship from extra-budgetary funds, the first recipient of which was Daria Blashko.

Oleg Shvedov, "Vitebskie vesti"