Best Practices and Innovative Projects: Recap of National Student Sports Forum at ITMO University

Rectors say

First and foremost, rectors of participating universities discussed the challenges that hinder the development of student sports in Russia. Their concerns could be divided into three groups. To begin with, not all universities have their own sports venues so they have to invest their money and efforts into renting specialized facilities for their students. In addition, they also struggle to find top-level specialists who would have the abilities to train a new generation of professional athletes. And lastly, universities are often limited to their budgets when planning to introduce further improvements.

As noted by ITMO’s Rector Vladimir Vasilyev, it is of top priority to cultivate student sports despite all ongoing challenges because, in the end, the results will be worth it. ITMO’s sports events served at first as a platform for testing modern methods and techniques. For instance, students got the chance to choose any sports for their PE classes. Yet over time, the university authorities decided to scale the approach up and extended it to other educational disciplines and modules as well. 

The Rector also pinpointed the fact that student sports clubs not only help universities reach new heights but also encourage students to work on themselves and build a wealth of new skills: 

“I believe that the key purpose of sports nowadays is to help young people unlock their full potential. With the advent of state-of-the-art technologies and esports, people began to spend more and more time online. And for us as university heads it’s beyond important to seek a balance between the virtual and real worlds. Especially because the real world, including its aspects such as physical activities, has its advantages, too. While practicing their sports, students improve their communication and soft skills. They learn to be team players, take responsibility for their actions, and grow respect and love towards their alma mater, hometown, and country,” says Vladimir Vasilyev, Rector of ITMO University. 

The secret recipe for success

In the spring of 2021, ITMO’s KronBars sports club won a 15 million ruble grant from the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education for the best organization of sports activities among higher education institutions, and in the fall, KronBars once again proved its title as the best student sports club. At the forum, Dmitry Rusanov, deputy head of ITMO’s Department of Youth Policy and general manager of KronBars, shared the club’s path to success. 

“A major part of the application process for the contest is to form a team, as well as divide the roles and responsibilities among each and every member. We had three key roles: one student was responsible for preparing an application in terms of its content and compliance with the standards, another did the paperwork required for the final round, and the third person supervised their work and conducted the final revision and submission of the application. It’s also crucial to be ahead of time because you won’t be able to scan and print 500 pages in just thirty minutes,” notes Dmitry Rusanov. 

At the contest, ITMO’s student sports club presented Kronbars Space, an ongoing project of an integrated development program for student sports. The key purpose of Kronbars Space is to increase the number of ITMO students who regularly participate in physical activities by 20%. The work is taking place in the major tracks: sports, education, and marketing. 

The first one focuses on the development of sports clubs and priority sports. This year marked the launch of the first-ever KRONBARS.STARS sports scholarship contest. Eight winners of the contest were enrolled in the university thanks to their successes in rowing, futsal, and basketball. At the same time, the student sports club tries to promote esports and online sports. Moreover, ITMO students can do sports at any time and track their exercises with a special Strava-based app. In the near future, KronBars plans to release video courses on yoga and sailing and launch a fitness app.

According to Dmitry Rusanov, quality sports are impossible without advanced educational courses and projects, which lie at the heart of the second track. To that end, the sports club will soon announce a new course on esports management and the organization of mass sports. 

The third track covers the many issues of marketing. As stressed by the club’s general manager, KronBars strives to foster love for sports among students. To achieve this goal, the club makes use of various marketing tools, including social media. Branding is also a valuable asset. A good brand communicates the value of your products: clubs, sports contests, and events. However, young people also pay attention to such attributes as names, logos, and mascots.

Sports leads to happiness

During the conference, Evgenii Raskin, head of ITMO’s Department of Youth Policy and head of KronBars, elaborated on digital technologies in the field of student sports.

ITMO University offers a special information management system, which lets students choose their sports and sign up for classes online. However, not all student sports clubs have the opportunity to provide such a system and especially a separate website for their members. 

The present situation prompted ITMO University and the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education to create the national platform for student sports meant to bring together all student sports leagues and clubs in one place. The platform lets each sports club share information about their available sports, achievements, partners, and schedules. Students can use this platform to join sports clubs and take part in sports events. According to Evgenii Raskin, it also provides real-life statistics on how many people do sports regularly. 

The KronBars’ head also noted that sports affect both physical and mental health. That’s why one of the university’s strategic projects bears the name Well-Being. The project focuses on four main objectives, including health and sports. Moreover, ITMO strives to create a favorable environment, promote sustainable consumption, and provide opportunities for professional growth and networking. 

Each objective implies a certain set of measures. To improve the physical and mental well-being of students and staff, the university introduced classes on self-defense, healthy nutrition and sleep, as well as many others, into its curriculum last year. With the goal of creating a comfortable environment, ITMO has coworking spaces that are open 24/7. 

In addition, the university launched a soft skills module to help students expand their horizons. ITMO also offers a broad choice of training courses for its staff, for example, within the ITMO.Expert initiative. Looking forward, the university plans to study happiness from a scientific point of view with the help of sociologists and psychologists. 

“When we worked on our Development Strategy, we knew that it was important for us to focus not only on scientific and educational projects but also on a comfortable environment and atmosphere for ITMO.Family. Today’s rapidly changing world with the floods of information and the ongoing pandemic made us realize the importance of our students and staff's well-being. After all, healthy and happy people are productive and fuel our growth,” explains Evgenii Raskin.