“Each department in the company should be like a curling team”: coach Dmitry Zayets about the dream of building an ice arena, curling in Ukraine and how he will help company executives

Dmitry Zayets is our client, an entrepreneur and curling coach. He has been worked with athletes for more than 10 years, he regularly participates in tournaments in northern Europe, Canada and the USA, and now he is training our Paralympic athletes. Dmitry told us what`s the situation with curling in Ukraine.

I used to play basketball in the past. Then I lived in Moscow, and it was the former basketball players who started curling in Russia. This is because the movements in these sports are very similar in technique: in basketball, when you release the ball, your hand works the same way as when you release the stone in curling. Anton Batugin showed me the basics; he is now the head coach of the Russian Paralympic team. I went to competitions, I watched how players play and think, type of tactics. My first training was with the Paralympics. I arrived in Kiev in 2008. The All-Ukrainian Curling Federation already existed for 4 years at that time, but everything was very poorly developed: I remember the stones for the game were brought from Belarus by bus.

EACH DEPARTMENT IN THE COMPANY SHOULD BE AS A CURLING TEAM

After arriving, I have found out that my friends opened curling tracks in the Dream Town shopping center. I then just had free time, the business did not require my intervention, and I went to work as a senior instructor for them. The investment in maintaining the ice there and the ice complex itself with 2 tracks 50 m long and 5 m wide was $ 500,000. The price for a game was 1000 UAH per hour for a team of 8 people. So, you could have a whip-round or arrange for the losers to pay, this added excitement. We also had an action group: the guys who tried and they liked it; we held tournaments with them, where 100-150 people came. Embassies of Canada and New Zealand came to play with us. Generally, around the world, commercial curling survives thanks to corporate parties: companies play among themselves, this is a good opportunity to have fun and to unite the team. And they do not just choose curling. I’m an economist by my first education, I used to work with personnel and I can say: each department in the company should be like a curling team. There is a moment in the game when you need to rub the stones – the team should be on the same wave. Curling really reveals the "weak link": people not of your team.

At that time, the occupancy rate of the tracks in Dream Town was 8-10% of the total working time, so the ice was often free, and we had time to improve ourselves: my friend and I trained a lot, threw stones from morning to evening. Soon we gathered a team here, we arrived in Kaliningrad to compete and beat such teams there! Swedes, Estonians, Russians - they did not even know about curling in Ukraine! Sometimes, to participate in tournaments, I joined mixed teams - my friends from different countries.

Curling at “Dream Town” worked until 2011. Rent a retail space cost about $ 100 per 1 m², and curling occupied 600 m². It was hard. And for the past three years, nobody deal with attracting people and developing. The site was idle; it was unprofitable to maintain it. Although it was necessary to look for a way out: do advertising, promotions. Moreover, visitors constantly came up during the games, they watched and were interested, and curling, by the way, very attracted people to bars near the tracks: we closed and bars around failed. It turns out that curling had its own special aura for Dream Town.

HOW ICEMAKER HAS GOOD HANDS AND GOOD EQUIPMENT, SO GOOD WILL BE YOUR KERLING

After the closure of Dream Town, the federation agreed with the management of the Terminal Mall in town of Brovary to give us some unpopular time at the ice rink. I received a second higher education - pedagogical at the Drahomanov University and I began to train deaflympians - athletes with hearing impairments. In addition, I was an icemaker there, that is, I was responsible for the ice and prepared it for the game. Since it was an arena for figure skating and hockey, sometimes I had to crawl on the ice at night before our workouts applying markings and levelling out the ice. I enjoy it. At the world championships, teams of specialists can work in a platform for two weeks pouring water, setting the perimeter, but we did not have so much time. The ice preparation machine for skaters and hockey players does not level the surface perfectly - the difference can be from 1 to 5 cm, and for curling it is crucial. In addition, there should be control of humidity and air temperature, because the quality of the ice is not suitable for curling when it is damp indoors. 

Everything is important here from the moment of preparation - which complex, which refrigeration unit, which specialist makes ice. You should love this work. Icemaking is a science: what kind of water to fill in, what temperature. Special pimples called pubbles (balls of water) are applied. Stone does not go on smooth ice, only on a little rough. All stones, by the way, move in different ways: they are natural, but nature doesn’t happen the same - some stone is heavier, some easier, some worn more.

COMPARED TO CURLING, HOCKEY IS A GAME FOR GIRLS

My whole family does sports: my wife is a former skater, my daughter is also engaged in figure skating, and my son is a hockey player. Therefore, when you compare these sports, you will understand that hockey is a game for girls. For curling, you need to be even more physically tough: there are very hard runouts and lunges; the body is in tension for 2 hours, all muscles are involved. During the game, the body weight is shifted completely to the broom, which we use to sweep ice, and the legs just maintain balance. And within the whole game a man runs 4 km in his arms. And imagine 2-3 games a day! This requires serious physical training.

YOU MAINLY USE YOUR HEAD WHEN YOU PLAY CURLING

I am convinced that our country is in such an economic situation, because we play curling a little. If we play more - in each regional center, in the district center - things will be better with us, because you play curling with your head, there is a complete analysis: you watch how your stones go, and analyze measurements as a rivalNow about 1000 people are involved in curling in Ukraine. However, we try to popularize it, every year more and more people are attracted, it turns out a little.

The Federation got good sponsors in February and Dream Town was reanimated: they opened curling there on the third floor near the ice rink. We trained before quarantine in February and March. But a lot of things were done wrong: the ice budget was 20,000 a day - simply because of the electricity that the machine chiller eats without power regulation. There are high ceilings, the shopping center heating works, the mass of warm air goes around, and maintaining ice is expensive - they try to save money, they put cooling to a minimum at night. And curling needs -5 degrees, so, the machine chiller should work more powerful. But skaters, on the contrary, need soft ice.

GETTING ON THE OLYMPIC GAMES IS THE WAY TO ETERNITY

There are three groups in strength in Europe: A - the strongest, B and C. So, Ukraine must first enter the group C. To win 1st place there. Then win 1 place in group B. Next step – to get into the top five in group A. And only then we will get to the World Cup. And we should get into the nine in the World Cup (one of the places is given to the host country). And those 10 teams will go to the Olympic Games. This path may take 20 years for the Ukrainian team. But it all depends on the way we work: if we find sensible athlets here, then we can do it in two years. Alternatively, Ukraine can host the Winter Olympic Games, and then we can definitely take part in it.

In addition to the federation, there is also the Invasport Ukrtsentr, which is engaged in physical education and sports for people with disabilities. We have about 100-120 deaf curlers; there are teams in 8 regional centers.

Now I am preparing them for World Deaf Cup, which will be held in March 2021 in Canada. Last year we went to Italy. 

I drove deaflympians to tournaments in Europe and they played with strong rivals. 

CURLING IN NORTHERN EUROPE IS A POPULAR SPORT

Austria, Estonia, Finland have been playing curling for centuries - they have traditions, coaches, platforms, specialists. 

We were recently in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, where a large watch manufacturer built a large new curling center for its employees. Many people come to play there, they take children, they even conduct physical education classes for schoolchildren. Each curling club organizes competitions where anyone can come, they indicate what team you can come. Competitions are held in Europe every week; there is an international site where all these events can be tracked. All tournaments run from Friday to Sunday. 

A trip to a tournament is usually not very costly. A special program is provided for people with disabilities, the state allocates money to them.

There are tournaments with a prize pool where you can earn. You pay a € 300 contribution per team, and you can win € 3,000 for 1 place. I won the tournament in Finland last year: I have the right to participate in the tournament this year with free food and accommodation. I should go there June 15, but I doubt that the air service will open and it will take place. 

There`s also the Seniors Curling World Cup with 50+ players there. So, I won’t play for the youth, but maybe I’ll go to represent Ukraine as the “senior”.

WE JUST BEGIN TO START THE PROJECT OF PARALYMPIANS IN CURLING

Last year, the Ukrainian team first participated in the 2019 Curling World Cup. It was a mixed team - a guy and a girl. So, Ukraine first declared itself.

The team has never been represented at the Paralympic Games. However, we have already begun to train, we garher a team in Kiev, we are working with the regions. Now we have already agreed on ice with Invasport in Poltava and in Ivano-Frankivsk. 

In Minsk - the closest curling arena to Kiev - we should have had a tournament at the end of March, but we did not go because of quarantine. Our athletes train at home, because the main thing for curling is a specific stretching and load on the vestibular system, back, abdominal muscles and legs. There is even such a thing as dry training, that is, training without ice. 

We need some special equipment. A person who is in a wheelchair cannot just ride out with a stone, he needs a device - an extender. We bought them just a week ago. 

I regularly buy something: sometimes in Denmark, sometimes in Slovakia. My friends constantly buy new equipment there, the old equipment they hold in stock, and I take it away: - they give me something free of charge and I restore it, for some I pay the loan. Curling is not a cheap game: you should pay for ice, boots cost $ 500, good brush costs € 350 and pants - € 120.

I bought an ice-cutting machine in Canada, which costs $ 15,000. It perfectly cuts ice and is the only one in Ukraine. And I should deliver and clear it. Perhaps, I could go to Bali instead of it or buy a motorcycle. But I love it.

STADIUM IS MY DREAM. ANYWHERE WE WILL OPEN IT

Curling at the initial stage in Ukraine. But I want it to develop here. Unfortunately, we cannot invite foreign coaches, because we should pay at least € 3000-5000 to Slovak or Estonian coach. Plus we should pay for their accommodation. And our coach receives at best 6000-8000 UAH. We must build ourselves, and not wait for someone to come and help.

THANKS TO CURLING, I`VE GOT FRIENDS ON THE WHOLE PLANET

And they are really looking forward to my invitation, everyone wants to come to Ukraine. I think there will be a lot of people to come to us with pleasure when we open our curling club. We will do everything here at the highest level.

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