To keep the body and soul young

The period of the origin of football, namely the establishment of official rules, is attributed to the end of the 19th century. Although the ball game, ancient as the world, appeared in China (zhu-ke), in Sparta (epykros) and in ancient Rome (harpastum). A few years ago, a rating of the most popular sports was compiled, taking into account the mass character, the audience on TV screens, profitability and other parameters. Football took the first place, showing an approximate coverage of 4 billion athletes and spectators. We asked the team director Anton Melezhik to share his opinion on the development of the football section at JINR.

- What do you think is the reason for the popularity of football?

- It is popular for one simple reason: there is a fine balance between an amateur and a professional, that is, with the right approach an ordinary player with competent preparation can give a worthy rebuff to a more skilled opponent. First of all, football probably teaches one to work in a team that in modern society allows to successfully solve problems. Indeed, in a team a positive result is much easier to achieve than alone. In addition, physical activity helps to relieve stress and throw out negative emotions.

- How long has the football section existed at JINR?

- I came to work at JINR in 2010 and there was already a well-established sports team of the representatives of compatriots. But still, I think the indicative period of establishment is 2004, when the employees played matches at the internal sports contest and were able to assemble a team from different departments to represent the Institute at city competitions.

- What is the JINR team squad today? Can one of the players be highlighted?

- In this period, we experience a succession of generations, the average age of the team has risen significantly. Therefore, we try to extensively involve the youth in training and games, because the length of the bench is very important (meaning the bench of reserve players who can replace the starting player at any time - ed. note). We believe and strive to explain to the youth that it is better to play 5-10 minutes in a strong team and gain experience by watching adult colleagues than to run for half an hour in a weak one. Each our player is worth its weight in gold and it would be better to tell a little about each. The first is, of course, Yury Savin, who will turn 40 this year and he still helps us to score points at a high level. The next one is Denis Shvidky, also one of the veterans of the team, with whom we went through fire, water and copper pipes and who has scored a lot of goals. One of the experienced team players is Artem Korobitsin, he almost never misses matches. One of the young employees is, of course, Vlad Novoselov - a young, fast, technical boy, I hope, the future of our football team. We also have two young coaches in our team. They are Kirill Akelin, the coach of the Spartak Sports School in Dubna and Kirill Pereverziev, the coach of the Dynamo Sports School, who help in mastering tactical schemes and in training on the field. There are pupils of the Dubna Sports School - Aleksandr Yudaev, Sergey Shcherbakov, Aleksey Chekmarev, who have got high skill. And, of course, our two goalkeepers: Pavel Lebedev and Nikita Kuznetsov, who protect our goal from opponent attacks. In addition, there are several young talented recruits, they run in and, I hope, will continue to play for our team.

- What competitions does the JINR team take part in?

- We have a whole set of them. DKFL - United Dubna and Kimry Football League in 8 vs 8 format. We also played in Dmitrovsky district 11 vs 11, home games were hosted at the Stadium "Nauka". This year we decided to make our league 11v11 and we did it. It was called DKTFL (United Football League of Dubna, Kimry and Taldom), the games were held at the Stadiums "Nauka" in Dubna and "Zvezda" in Kimry. In the first year, we managed to attract only four teams, but we plan to develop this league, for the development of sports in our own region is much more important than participation in the championships of other cities. It is worth noting that this year the competitions were popular and spectators came to the games of our championship. Another winter format is the Dubna 5v5 championship that takes place at the Sports Palace "Raduga". We also took part in the championship of the Taldomsky district in the 11 vs 11 format, just in 2016 and 2017 we became the last champions of these competitions (two times). After that, they ceased to be held in this format.

- Were there any particularly memorable matches?

- Just in the autumn of 2017, a very important match took place against the Kimry team "Mars". A draw was enough for us, but in case of a defeat, we rolled down from the first place. On this day, everything went wrong. In the 20th minute we got sent off and in the 30th minute we were already losing one goal. The fate of the medals was up in the air, we could not score the opponent's goal for the whole half, we played in the minority. Yet, in the 90th minute we managed to level the score and under the 3rd minute time limit we won this match and won one of the first victories in our district. Before that, of course, there still had been a victory in the first league in the Dmitrov championship in the same format, but then the team mainly consisted of legionnaires from different cities. However, the victory in the Taldom championship was won by young players from Dubna.

- Is there an opportunity to improve skills, to work with coaches or other sports masters? Maybe the teams from other cities have the experience that would be useful to learn from?

- Yes, of course, in this regard, we are very lucky, we try to work with the coach from the Dubna Sports School Ilimdar Memetov and the coach of the Kimry Football Team "Zvezda" Denis Belkov, they give us a chance to "run in" in adult football of young players, who want to play football. We also hold joint training sessions at the Stadium "Nauka" that allows us to learn from the experience of conducting the training process and, of course, improve the skill level of our players.

- In your opinion, does the well-maintained field of the Stadium "Nauka" contribute to the development of this sport? Has the possibility of competitions expanded after its reconstruction? Do you have any suggestions for further improvement?

- Surely! Indeed, without our own stadium, it was difficult for us to take part in 11 vs 11 games, we had to rent stadiums in Novosinkovo and Volna on the left bank that does not increase the interest of the fans. And currently, having a lighted football field, we were able to organize the start of our league. In addition, the box with artificial turf makes it possible to conduct training sessions in an 8 vs 8 format. We have a unique infrastructure to improve our skills and attract young players and, in the future, employees of the Institute. If we talk about wishes, this is a change of the lawn, the current lawn has become obsolete and requires new work on its landscaping. There is, of course, another option - an artificial synthetic coating, but this is a very expensive pleasure.

- How does the administration of the Institute contribute to the development of this section?

- JINR Directorate helps us a lot in financing: it pays all fees in the 11 vs 11 format, buys equipment. This year, for our merits, we were bought the most modern professional uniform from Puma. Before that, we also ran in Nike. We rarely, of course, ask for any changes, but there's no need to complain that we are not heard.

-Tell us about your path in sports.

- I came to football at the age of 16, becoming a student and not having any sports school behind me. I was fascinated by the game and it became my hobby. Playing football is much more fun than cutting circles around the field. When I came as a postgraduate student at JINR, it was 2010, I don't even remember how I managed to lead the JINR football team. Before that, there was a very age team squad, it was not immediately possible to find the right vector for the development of the team. So, my path in sports is difficult, from the bottom to the very top. But the more pleasant was the result. At the moment, the JINR football team is a viable mechanism that has become one of the strongest teams in the north of the Moscow Region. The regional level has not yet submitted to us, we still have to work and work in this area.

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Thanks to its popularity, football brings regions together, coaches and players know each other well, move from team to team, gain experience from each other.

Thus, Vladislav Novoselov, a VBLHEP laboratory assistant, trained with D. Yu. Belkov in 2017, where he met Anton Melezhik. The latter invited him to the team. Vladislav has been playing for JINR for five years already and explains his choice as follows: "I like to play with athletes who are head and shoulders above you, to learn something from them, to compete with them, thereby improving my level of play." True, among the most memorable matches, he recalls his debut for JINR in 2017, when he went out in the second half and got injured 15 minutes later. Then he had to leave the sport for a while.

One of the coaches of the Institute team, Kirill Pereverziev, came to play football at the Stadium "Nauka" in 2016. The scheme is the same - he met Anton, accepted an invitation to play for JINR both at the city and at the Institute tournaments. "My friends from the Sports School played in the team, so it was easy to find a common language," says Kirill. "And that's probably the main reason why I'm still with them. Familiar faces, convenient training schedule. The organization is in perfect order, the atmosphere in the team is good. Everyone plays for each other and it's nice."

Answering a question about the most striking competitions, K. Pereverziev recalls the championship of the Dmitrovsky district in 2019, the end of the season: "We were going to the match for medals against "Pavlovichi". We had problems with the squad, as we barely got 11 people together. We needed a win. And we succeeded to win 4:3, playing with a backup team. And of course, the golden match in September 2021 in the DKFL against "Atom". They were ahead of us by one point, it was enough for them to draw, but we set up well and confidently achieved a victory with a score of 5:0."

Denis Shvidky, Head of the group in VBLHEP, made his debut for the JINR team at the city tournament between enterprises around 2010. In that tournament, the team was not able to show outstanding results. Mostly veterans played, they did not achieve great success. However, years have passed and today Denis explains his participation as follows: "Firstly, as a JINR staff member, it is important for me to uphold the honor of the Institute not only in advanced science, but also in sports. Secondly, our team at the moment is one of the strongest in the city, not only among enterprises, but also in the entire city football community. In addition to city competitions, the team participates in the Dmitrovsky district championship in the 11 vs 11 format. Such a wide range of competitions allows one to improve both personally as a player and to gain gaming experience outside the city football community."

Of the most striking competitions, Denis remembered, of course, those in which the players took first place. For example, the championship of the Dmitrovsky district in big football in 2014, as well as the championship in the combined championship of Dubna-Kimry in 2021 and undoubtedly, the annual championship among enterprises, in which the JINR team became the champion four times over the past five years. He also remembers the 2019 season in the championship of the Dmitrovsky district, where he managed to score 25 goals and get ahead of the nearest pursuer in the scorers race by as much as 8 goals. "In general, each season and championship is unique in its own way, not like the previous one and, probably, it should be like this, so that you always go out on the field with fire in your eyes," says Denis. And to the question about the provision of the team, he answers, "The level of infrastructure of the JINR team is higher than that of the teams playing in higher leagues. The Institute has provided all the conditions for high-quality training all year round. It is important that in addition to the training process, there are all the opportunities for recovery after hard competitions and training, such as a sauna and a swimming pool."

Material was prepared by Vladislav Rozhkov,
Galina Myalkovskaya