Parimatch Foundation is an international charitable foundation whose primary mission is to bring up a healthy and conscious generation. This objective is realized through providing equal access to sports and education to all children, regardless of their physical and mental ability or socioeconomic status.
According to Ekaterina Belorusskaya, President of Parimatch Foundation, focusing on children’s development and education has been an extremely ambitious endeavor for the Foundation as it requires a consistent investment of resources over a long time. However, the relevance of such a choice is undeniable: statistically, 200 million children across the world are wasting their potential due to a lack of adequate support from their parents, caregivers, and teachers. By investing in children’s development, we minimize the number of those who could otherwise end up among the vulnerable populations requiring special care from society.
Ekaterina Belorusskaya
It’s a long-term game that calls for a systemic approach for tangible results. In every country where charitable organization Parimatch Foundation operates, its team strives to adapt its global programs to the needs of the local community. In Ukraine, it is implementing three comprehensive programs — “Yes, I can,” “New Physical Culture,” and “Sports Mentor.” Each of these programs views sports as a valuable tool for children’s socialization, development of their teamwork and leadership skills, as well as overall improvement of their health and promotion of physical activity.
“Yes, I can” is the Parimatch Foundation program that supports children with disabilities and special mental health needs through their involvement in sporting activities. Within two years since the Foundation’s start, more than 500 children attended inclusive training sessions in 15 cities all over Ukraine in football, floorball, rock climbing, table tennis, Greco-Roman wrestling, and basketball groups. Ekaterina Belorusskaya emphasizes that a lot of care is taken to make the training sessions purely inclusive rather than made for children with disabilities specifically. Assessments carried out by psychologists have shown that contact with healthy children significantly improves the socialization levels of Parimatch Foundation’s wards.
Also, within the scope of the “Yes, I can” program, the Foundation has allocated UAH 4, 000, 000 for scholarships for talented child athletes with disabilities, and every year it increases the number of scholarship holders. This socially significant initiative is implemented in collaboration with the National Sports Committee for the Disabled of Ukraine. As a result, eight PMF wards have joined the national teams in three sports: swimming, basketball, and athletics.
In 2020-2021, the Foundation donated sports gear and special inclusive equipment to the ARTEK children’s camp, giving young wheelchair users an opportunity for recreation. The Parimatch Foundation team is confident that by providing children with disabilities with a barrier-free space for learning and playing sports, we help them adapt to society faster and better.
“New Physical Culture” is the program aimed at developing and promoting physical education at schools to improve physical activity among children. In 2020, the Foundation launched a free online course on the Prometheus portal, thanks to which physical education teachers throughout Ukraine can improve their qualifications and make their lessons more engaging. In total, nine theoretical modules have been made available to 11,000 registered users (and their number is growing: an average of 200-500 people are added per month). Moreover, 60% of the participants have already received completion certificates. Practical modules cover the following disciplines: running, basketball, rugby, cheerleading, step aerobics, crossfit, football, table tennis, floorball.
Also, in order to increase the expertise of Ukrainian teachers of physical education, the Foundation has organized free online conferences “Innovations in body education” and “Innovations in body education 2.0”. More than 40 experts, including foreign ones, spoke during these events. The live broadcasts of the conferences have attracted around 10,000 viewers from all over the country.
To support talented and creative teachers of physical education, for two years in a row, the Parimatch Foundation has been holding the “Project Competition for Innovative Teachers”: in 2020, the prize fund amounted to UAH 500,000, and in October this year, ten winners will go to the first ISF Universal Teachers Games 2021 in Croatia.
“Sports Mentor” is the program striving to give each child an opportunity to develop their talents and follow their dreams regardless of their social status. According to statistics, orphans or children from disadvantaged families lead a more passive lifestyle; they often have less knowledge about the basics of hygiene, healthy eating, and the importance of physical activity; at the same time, they can be more prone to aggression and antisocial manifestations. It is extremely important that such children have a mentor — a person who will not only teach them physical exercises but also become a role model.
Beneficiaries of the Parimatch Foundation have access to free training in rhythmic gymnastics, sambo and jiu-jitsu. Children from orphanages and rehabilitation centers have attended basketball and ice hockey matches. For two years on end, Anna Rizatdinova, an Olympic champion in rhythmic gymnastics, has been one of the inspirational mentors for the program participants.
For two years now, each program of the Parimatch Foundation has been implemented with the joint efforts of the government agencies, public organizations, and responsible businesses for the benefit of the children. The President of the Foundation firmly believes that this very synergy allows the Parimatch Foundation programs to scale. The PMF team systematically brings the best world practices to Ukraine to improve the level of physical culture in the country. Every year it increases the number of the Foundation’s beneficiaries and expands the geography of its programs’ implementation to give the new generation the opportunity to be healthy and mindful and make our society a more tolerant and barrier-free place to grow up in.
