Some Ukrainian families arrived in Touraine more than a month ago but the children had little opportunity to have fun and participate in activities. On the initiative of a lifeguard from Mariupol, swimming lessons are offered to them at the Piscine du Lac during the second week of the Easter holidays.
Courses in Ukrainian
A toe in the water and splash! The first five children enter the pool. Petro Radivilov, the Ukrainian lifeguard, teaches them to fetch a ring. “For the moment it’s a bit difficult to manage, he begins smiling, because they are so happy!“
They go in all directions! The hardest part is keeping your balance in the water.
This is the first time five-year-old Timish has done an after-school activity with other children. He fled Dnipro with his mother a month ago. “I did it to save my son, to save him from this trauma“, begins Tetiana. Regarding swimming, everything is going wonderfully. “He was afraid to take his armbands off, but Petro told him to take them off, he didn’t need them.“
Now he does without, I’m really happy.
A former water polo champion as a teacher
Petro Radivilov is the former goalkeeper of the Ukrainian water polo team. Originally from Mariupol, a city with which he was seven times champion of Ukraine, he arrived in France in 2010 for his professional career. Since the end of February, he has seen the war unfold from a distance. His mother is still stuck in Mariupol. From Touraine, he tries to help his compatriots as much as possible.
He was the one who had the idea for this partnership. “Jasked my management to take a step so that the children can come and enjoy the good weather“, he explains. “It was accepted and we did the first session. There are two that had never been in the water, so that was a great find!“
The first objective is that children recently arrived from Ukraine enjoy having fun in the water.
Solidarity beyond the pool
Katerina watches her daughter Kseniya splash around in the water, her little swimming pool cap on her head. She was a professional swimmer in Ukraine and the director of a swimming club. She dreamed of seeing her daughter start synchronized swimming. “But Mariupol swimming pool was destroyed by shelling“, she explains.
She therefore fled her country ten days ago, leaving behind her brother, Petro’s best friend, killed by the bombs. In Tours, “Petro hosts me with my daughter. He was the one who asked me to come today. He offers to help children get used to normal life again.“
Kseniya has a field day. A final leap into the deep end, and the cry of war, or rather of peace. “Very important for team spirit!“, says Petro. The next few days, he will try to teach them a few words of French at the same time as the course. Other lifeguards from the Lac swimming pool will also lead these workshops during the week.