A special button is used to call an assistant for a person with disabilities at the Triumph sports complex in Kazan

The Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin visited the Triumph sports complex in the Aviastroitelny district of the capital of Tatarstan. The head of the city got acquainted with the infrastructure of the venue, and also talked with parents of children with disabilities.

Roman Ivachyov, director of the Olympic Reserve Sports School, conducted the tour of the sports complex. According to him, the sports facility, built in 2010, is very popular with residents of the Aviastroitelny district, there are two swimming pools, a gym, an fitness hall, a sauna, billiards and a hockey rink.

People with disabilities practice swimming at the Triumph sports complex. The sports facility is equipped with ramps, tactile tiles, a toilet for disabled people, there is also an elevator, as well as lifts for wheelchairs to go down into the water. Currently, about 50 people with disabilities are regularly practice swimming here, 30% of them are children. There are individual and group classes for five people. Parents are also allowed to swim with children.

The head of the city asked about assistants, who help children when there are no parents around. “A special button is used to call an assistant, but the service is not in demand, most often children under the age of 10 attend classes and parents accompany the child to the changing room”, - said Albert Salikhov, chair of the Committee of Physical Culture and Sports.

The head of the city also talked with parents whose children practice swimming at the sports complex. “There are more and more opportunities for our children, they play sports together with other children,”- said Alla Chizh, mother of a special child. She offered to organize free fitness classes for moms, because parents of special children have no time for themselves. “While the child is swimming, we could practice sports as well”, - said Alla Chizh. Ilsur Metshin suggested considering this proposal.

Albert Salikhov said that 7 out of 37 municipal sports facilities are fully adapted for people with disabilities and almost 60% of the facilities are accessible to the visually impaired. The venues have navigation tiles, stickers on stairs and Braille signs. “The most challenging facilities today are those built mostly in Soviet times, there are 18 of them. In most of them there is no possibility to create conditions for wheelchair persons, but at the same time the facilities are adapted for disabled people of other categories”, - Albert Salikhov said.

For reference, Kazan sports facilities host various competitions and tournaments for people with disabilities. In 2021, 7 events were held, in which more than 300 people with health problems took part. “This is not a big number because of the pandemic, but we will definitely continue working in this direction, and we will annually increase the number of events for people with disabilities”, - Albert Salikhov shared the plans.