Lviv region was ranked second among all regions and was the only one to collect the entire set of awards: first, second and third places.

Today, 21 June, the winners and runners-up of the all-Ukrainian competition among secondary school students, Side by Side All-Ukrainian School Leagues, were awarded in Lviv Oblast. The final stage of the largest sporting competition among Ukrainian students in the history of our country, the Side by Side School Leagues, has recently ended in Kyiv. The strongest teams from the regions competed in five sports: volleyball, futsal, basketball, orienteering and cheerleading.

Lviv region took second place among all regions and was the only one to collect the full set of awards: first, second and third places. The team from Lviv’s Ivan Puluy Lyceum won first place in the cheerleading competition. The girls’ team from Andriy Korchak Lyceum in Stryi won second place in the national volleyball competition, and the boys from Sokal School No. 2 took third place in the same sport. The winners were awarded gift certificates from the Lviv Regional State Administration for the purchase of sports equipment worth UAH 100,000, UAH 80,000 and UAH 60,000, and the runners-up were awarded UAH 30,000 respectively.

“I remember myself as a child: I always wanted to win some big competitions to bring the cup back to my school with pride. And today, when I congratulated the students from Lviv region who won and took prizes in the largest school competitions in Ukraine, I felt like my childhood dream had come true. Children, you are truly heroes! I am proud of you, thank you for your victories, for the prizes and for the participation of each of you. I am grateful to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who initiated these competitions. I thank the team of the Lviv Youth and Sports Department ОДА, which from the first days of the project did everything to ensure that our region, which was the leader in the country in terms of the number of school teams, and we have registered 2875 (more than 35 thousand students), was among the best at the finish of this project. I would like to thank the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the opportunity to give children such vivid emotions,” said Maksym Kozytskyi, head of the Lviv Regional Military Administration.

It is worth noting that all seven districts of Lviv region have been actively involved in the process, and our region has become the leader in the number of school teams registered in the project, namely 2875, which is more than 35,000 students.

More than 4596 children from 326 teams in 5 sports (7 disciplines) took part in the third stage of the “Side by Side All-Ukrainian School Leagues” project – basketball, volleyball, futsal, cheerleading and orienteering.

“We thank the students, their parents and coaches. Everyone contributed to the preparation and competition, and did this work together. As a result, we have cool awards and, most importantly, sincere emotions. I wish you, children, to continue. Try, try hard, don’t stop there,” said Roman Khimyak, Head of the Youth and Sports Department of the Lviv Regional State Administration.

Seven school principals received letters of appreciation from the head of the Lviv Regional State Administration. And three employees of the regional and district administrations received letters of appreciation from the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, and the All-Ukrainian Centre “Sport for All”.

The project’s ambassadors are athletes: international master of sports of Ukraine, finalist of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, silver medallist of the III Summer Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires (2018, Argentina), all-around champion of the 34th European Junior Championships (2018, Guadalajara, Spain), absolute champion of the XVII World Summer Gymnastics Games, 2018 (Marrakech, Kingdom of Morocco). Marrakech, Kingdom of Morocco), Ukrainian junior rhythmic gymnastics champion in 2017 and 2018, vice-champion of Ukraine in 2019 and 2021 Khrystyna Pohranichna and international master of sports in canoeing, European Games champion, bronze medallist of the European Championships, Chevalier of the Order of Princess Olga of the III degree Valeria Tereta.

“I am incredibly happy to be an ambassador of the project. I’m happy to watch you children strive for your goals and win these awards. It reminds me of my own journey. I wish you not to give up your sporting hobbies, but to confidently step up to the top,” Valeria Tereta said.