Throughout most of October, students who are not indifferent to sports competed in competitions in six sports disciplines as part of the KPI Spartakiad. This was the second university sports day after a long break due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the beginning of a full-scale war.
This year it was much more crowded than last year's. According to the trade union committee of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute students, which organized the competition, more than 500 students from all faculties and institutes of the university took part in it. The athletes competed for championship titles in chess, streetball, table tennis, bowling, volleyball, and mini-football.
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“The number of participants from the faculties absolutely correlates with the number of students enrolled in the blended learning program. Where there are more students, there are more competitors,” said Igor Stepaniuk, chairman of the students' trade union committee, after the Spartakiad. ”I believe that the level of this year's Spartakiad is higher than last year. It is important that people join sports. Even in the conditions of distance learning, even despite the employment of students, many of whom work, even during certification, they found opportunities and time to participate in competitions because it is interesting and important to them.”
The participating teams were evaluated according to the following system: for the first place in the Spartakiad, the faculty received 30 points, for the second - 25, for the third - 22, for the fourth - 20, for the fifth - 19, and so on.
The Spartakiad began with a chess tournament held in the smart shelter of the University's Scientific and Technical Library on September 30 (incidentally, on the All-Ukrainian Library Day). This tournament became an immediate record, as it gathered the largest number of participants who had previously participated in intra-university competitions: 75 boys and 16 girls from all faculties and institutes except the Library. The team championship was won by the FPM team, the IATE team took silver, and the RTF chess players took third place.
Then there was the streetball tournament, which was attended by 10 teams, and the winners were the teams “Who let the dogs out” (1st place, ITS), “Zhivchik” (2nd place, ISZZI), “Fizteh” (3rd place, FTI) and the table tennis tournament (held for the first time), in which the teams of FEL (first), ITS (second) and FTI (third) celebrated the victory, and 19 teams participated in total.
The bowling competition, held at the Kosmopolit shopping center, was attended by 13 teams, and the winners were Mammoth_190 (1st place, ISZZI). “Probulers (2nd place, FEA), Titans (3rd place, ITS).
In volleyball, 19 teams competed, with the first place going to the ISZZI team, the second to Forsazh (PBF), and the third to Crazy Capybara (MMI).
The final of the mini-football tournament took place on the closing day of the Spartakiad on October 25. The matches took place at the Small Sports Core. The final game of the tournament, in which 19 teams took part, was so hot that the players and fans did not notice the autumn cold. To the sound of football horns, stormy waves of shouts and applause from the audience, the players of the ISZZI team literally snatched the victory in a fierce struggle from the ITS team “Pianstvo Boi”. The bronze medal of the mini-football tournament also went to the ISZZI - the players of the second team of this Institute.
Thus, for the second year in a row, the ISZZI team took the first place in the overall standings of the KPI Spartakiad. The second place with a small margin of victory was taken by the Institute of ITS. And the third place in terms of points was won by the team of the Institute of IAT, which, despite the fact that it did not win any prizes in individual disciplines, performed so smoothly and steadily that it outperformed the rest of the teams that showed themselves only in certain types.
Immediately after the mini-football tournament, the awarding ceremony began. It was opened by the Rector of the University Anatolii Melnychenko. “Dear students, dear colleagues! First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to you for starting to restore mass student sports. Thank you for taking part in this movement,” he addressed the participants of the competition. ”Indeed, the university is not only about knowledge, but also about training people who are strong in spirit and strong in body. The students present here, those who took part in the competitions in various sports, are comprehensively, harmoniously, physically and spiritually developed people. It's nice that this year's Spartakiad was attended by representatives of all faculties and institutes. This means that we will gradually move towards building up our sports potential. Of course, the war forces us to do everything in a slightly curtailed format, but I am convinced that after the victory our sports life will be even brighter!”
One of the highlights of the Spartakiad was the choice of the most creative name for the mini-football team. There was also an uncompromising struggle for the title of the most imaginative faculty. The winner was the FBT, whose team was called “Kiss Kiss Chick Chick Chick Chick Chick Aaaa” (a really interesting name, but, you see, not the most convenient for commentators). By the way, during the selection of the most interesting name, a fundraiser was announced to purchase two REB stations for the unit in which the son of one of the university employees serves, and this collection brought in more than 10.5 thousand hryvnias!
We should also mention the prize fund of the Spartakiad. According to Ihor Stepaniuk, there were two sources of its formation. The first was the students' trade union, which purchased medals and cups worth UAH 4 thousand, and there were 100 medals alone! In addition, the trade union provided three prizes for the winning faculties: sticker packs, balls, and ten T-shirts. The second source was FoodBank Ukraine, the first “food bank” in Ukraine, which provided the winners with candy and chips. This non-profit foundation is a long-standing and regular partner of the trade union. “It always helps us with products for our events, and we, in turn, help them collect food packages for civilians affected by the war and so on,” said the head of the student trade union.
The Spartakiad is over. What's next? The trade union plans to organize competitions in certain sports both outdoors and indoors, in which not only students but also university staff will be able to participate. And to win them, you will need to train hard. So we can hope that not only October will be sporty at KPI.