Thanks to the efforts of Ruslan Bondarenko, head of the youth and sports unit, young people in the Vradiivka village community in Mykolaiv Oblast can engage in arm wrestling, boxing, and even Kyokushin karate, achieving significant results.

Instead of a legal career, Ruslan chose to inspire a love for sports in the youth. Now, he opens new sports sections, organizes various competitions, and creates opportunities for young specialists in the village council, with the support of the USAID HOVERLA Activity.

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This story is part of the Governance Champions campaign by the USAID HOVERLA Activity. It is a series of publications dedicated to Local Government Day featuring professionals who bring outstanding results to the community through their daily work.

 

 

Being in love with sports since childhood, Ruslan Bondarenko once had neither a place nor a coach to practice boxing — his favorite sport. So he grew up and decided to ensure that other children did not have such limits. To do this, the lawyer became the head of the Youth Council in his native Vradiivka. He devoted all his time to the youth, organizing regular football matches and chess tournaments, and even accompanying children to competitions.

“Our open races and training sessions allowed us to attract more young people. These were mass events which not only children attended but also their parents,” says Ruslan Bondarenko, head of the youth and sports sector of the Vradiiivka village council.

When the Vradiivka community was formed, Ruslan applied for the position of head of the culture, youth, and sports unit, where he continued implementing all the ideas not implemented in the Youth Council. Despite his tight schedule, Ruslan attends all the sports games in the community to keep his finger on the pulse of sports life.

Ruslan regularly improves his professional skills during training sessions provided by the USAID HOVERLA Activity. Thanks to the new knowledge, Ruslan created a coordination council of deputies, parents, and athletes to find sports equipment and funding for sections together. Ruslan created a true sports hub in Vradiivka, where every sport is given attention.

“We even have a hall for Kyokushinkai Karate, and our entire community is already proud of the European medalist and Ukrainian champions in this sport. We are in favor of educating people who lead a healthy lifestyle and are confident that they will develop our country,” Ruslan is proud of his achievements.

 

 

To ensure that the youngest athletes are not deprived, he initiated the creation of a children's council. It includes 100 students of grades 6-9 from different schools in the community. Now the children decide whether to go in for karate or taekwondo.

 

 

“Ruslan is such a proactive person who knows how to lead young people, and his perseverance and initiative help a lot in our work,” says Mykola Moskalenko, Vradiyivka village head.

In addition to sports achievements in the community, Ruslan is also actively involved in youth internships at the local government. He launched this program in Vradiyivka together with the USAID HOVERLA Activity. He trained four interns and helped them find jobs. One of his trainees became the coordinator of the Youth Council and now, together with Ruslan, organizes hackathons and workshops for young people.

“Ruslan taught me how to draw up acts, minutes of meetings, and set up a Youth Council,” says Svitlana Adreeva, secretary of the Vradiyivka community's Youth Council.

“This initiative with the internship helped us to fill the local government with initiative people,” Ruslan emphasizes.

Meanwhile, Ruslan Bondarenko and his trainees dream of opening a large youth space in the community, where they can create new sports sections, and conduct psychological training and meetings with veterans.

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This publication was prepared based on materials of the non-governmental organization “Icebreaker” (ShoTam media) which were created within the “Effective Solutions for Progressive Communities” project and were made possible by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the generous support of the American people through USAID HOVERLA Activity.  The contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.