"We need to hold more competitions in Russia": Druzhinin on the popularization of diving and the construction of new pools

- Your track record is quite non-standard: three higher educations, work in government and administrative bodies, in enterprises, in the education system, and suddenly a sports federation appears against this background.

First rugby, now - diving federation ...

- In my opinion, on the contrary, a fairly common biography of a modern person.

In our world, everything is changing rapidly and it is necessary to constantly master new competencies, meet the requirements of the time, and use the opening opportunities.

When I worked in the Federal Antimonopoly Service, I received an offer to join the board of the Russian Rugby Federation as director for organizational and administrative work, and then to head this executive body of the federation.

Over the years, the board of the rugby federation has managed, in my opinion, to do a lot and organize its work correctly, the time has come to move on.

Then a proposal was made to use the experience gained in another federation.

We now have no less ambitious tasks, we have very similar problems.

I became convinced of this over the past months of work as the head of the executive committee of the Federation of Diving.

- In order for our sport to attract sponsors, two main components are needed: a good organization of the process and sports results.

The Russian Federation of Diving is now not doing very well with either one or the other.

How do you imagine working in this direction?

Relatively speaking, where to get money to raise salaries for local coaches, buy equipment, and develop further?

- Firstly, I would not dramatize the situation so much. There are several components to success, and each element of the system can be discussed in detail. If about budget money, then you need to effectively interact with the Ministry of Sports, with the ROC, know how certain processes are organized, and, accordingly, understand how you can increase funding, what opportunities are there, for example, in the implementation of the Strategy for the Development of Physical Culture and Sports in Russia until 2030. In addition, it is imperative to interact with regional governments and administrations, to try, at the expense of the constituent entities of the Federation, to increase the salaries of young coaches and specialists working in the field.

Let me remind you that the process of transferring sports schools to the education system is beginning, and this is a different system of remuneration.

Yes, today the salaries of coaches do not correspond to the time and tasks set by the federation.

We understand that specialists of this class will be happy to employ the same fitness centers, and for completely different money.

We are, of course, taking the necessary steps to maintain and expand our talent base and are now developing a program to support young coaches, which we plan to launch from the beginning of next year.

- Do you also plan to contact private investors?

- This is a daily job. Without the support of entrepreneurs, business interest in sports, its development in the current conditions is practically impossible. We are preparing a package of proposals for marketing and advertising opportunities for potential partners both in the federation as a whole and for individual tournaments. Believe me, this is completely different money than, for example, in team sports. We are ready to provide support - not always with money - however, with a reduction in our costs.

Ideally, I would like to achieve that diving became a priori interesting to sponsors and advertisers.

Now, perhaps, the same bookmakers do not really understand us, but this situation also needs to be worked out, as well as the relationship with television.

Please note that the solemn summing up of the year will be attended not only by athletes and coaches, but also by our sponsors.

They will feel like they are part of a big family, they will see who they are funding and for what.

• Stanislav Druzhinin, President of the Russian Federation of Diving

- Do you see a product that can really interest television, or does it need to be invented?

- For example, I have an idea to make an interesting high-diving project, which is now gaining popularity.

- That is, to reproduce in Russia a certain analogue of what Red Bull is doing by holding the World Series?

- Not really.

Among the possible options, we are considering a project within the framework of which high divers will jump in different beautiful places of our country.

When I started thinking about it, the first thing I met was the European champion in cliff diving Vadim Babeshkin, who runs a popular video blog about diving.

Right now, we are jointly thinking over content that will be of interest to people in the popularization of our sport.

Plus, it is necessary that there are more competitions in Russia so that we can host international tournaments.

This will help, on the one hand, to strengthen the authority of the federation in the world community, and on the other hand, to interest people in the regions, to attract them to cooperation.

Many governors want international events to be held on their territory, and they have the experience of organizing them and the necessary infrastructure.

- I know that one of the nearest ideas in this direction is a tournament of the CIS countries.

- Still, this is a tournament of the Eurasian countries.

We call it the Eurasia Cup so that athletes from the CIS countries, Lithuania, Latvia, Georgia and other neighboring countries can take part.

We want to spend it in early March 2022 in a good pool.

From what I've seen so far, I think Saransk is an ideal place.

We have already talked with the regional minister of sports, he supported the idea.

The sports leaders of most of the invited countries have also given preliminary consent for the participation of their athletes.

- You just said about Saransk, but I thought that there are almost no centers for divers in Moscow now.

Olimpiyskiy is under reconstruction, CSKA, where I myself grew up, are going to be demolished.

Is there any solution to this problem?

- "Olimpiyskiy" will someday be completed and will become the main capital object, on the basis of which it will be possible to develop diving in the city.

There is a swimming pool in the Olympic Village, but this is more of a purely training ground, since there are no seats for spectators.

Moscow must certainly regain its reputation as one of the leading diving centers.

- Spectator places, it seems to me, are secondary in this situation.

I'm talking about something else: Moscow has always been the city where there were several strong schools that competed with each other and supplied people to the national team.

Is it possible to recreate a similar circuit now?

Or is it a utopia?

- A modern diving pool is a big investment, especially when it comes to Moscow.

This is a separate and very important topic, which we are working on now with the participation of the Ministry of Sports, the mayor's office, and other interested parties.

The question is rather complicated, but I would not say that it is unrealistic.

Please note that only pools in Kazan meet all FINA requirements.

Therefore, everything that is now planned under the reconstruction or construction programs, especially as part of the development of navigation, requires additional attention and taking into account international requirements.

- Are the management of a federation of a team sport and such a complex one as diving - are these similar processes?

- Organizationally, a lot is the same. A noticeable difference is that some important processes now have to be built from scratch and that there are much fewer regional federations than there were in rugby. First of all, it is necessary to bring the entire legal framework of the federation into proper form so that everything is legally correct. Further, for each area of ​​work there should be appropriate plans, understandable budgets, responsible people. For example, on work with the regions, on the informational area and the media, on interaction with sponsors. Meetings of the executive committee and the presidium of the federation should be held in a regular schedule, in a public, open mode. Financial and reporting discipline must be built.

We have already formed a budget for 2022 with a perspective until 2024, we plan to conduct competitive procedures in the procurement of goods and services. Organizational and administrative work is more than enough. A separate area is the regions. We have already visited eight constituent entities of the Federation with a special delegation from the RFPV, ahead of them other regions developing diving. There is interest and agreements on the opening of federations in Krasnodar, Rostov-on-Don, Kaluga Region, the Republic of Bashkortostan, the Far East and Primorye. As you can imagine, this is the creation of our base, our foundation. For the regions, it is planned to create a system of support grants. But most importantly, we have entered the next Olympic cycle, and the preparation of the Russian national team for the 2024 Olympics is a priority.

- Sport is a very specific story in terms of goals and results.

Do you draw yourself any guidelines in this regard for the next year, for two, for four?

- Am I thinking about the end result?

Undoubtedly.

The report at the reporting and election conference and the subsequent presidium will focus on specific tasks and guidelines.

In short, now the main task is for the life of the federation to sparkle with different colors.

So that people begin to feel that there is movement forward, that we are becoming authoritative, recognizable.

So that the coaches in the regions feel differently.

So that athletes know that they are going into a successful, interesting and beautiful sport.

And, of course, I would like to build the entire system so that it maximally contributes to the result.

Diving in this regard is a sport with rich traditions, and they will continue.

- After the Ice Age project appeared on Channel One, the influx of children into figure skating increased dramatically throughout the country. Is it possible to think of something that will also increase the number of children in diving schools. I know that the HSE project gave a splash in this regard, but, unfortunately, it turned out to be a one-off phenomenon.

- Diving is a beautiful and dynamic sport.

Therefore, we will definitely try to find understanding from the management of sports television, but we must understand that this will not solve the problem.

It is impossible to develop a mass scale without changing the infrastructure, without increasing the number of facilities and coaches who are ready and able to work with children.

Training of specialists is a priority task.

For example, not so long ago we met with the authorities of Rostov-on-Don.

There are plans to build two swimming pools.

With stands, towers and trampolines.

This means that we have literally two or three years to understand who will be the coaches in Rostov-on-Don.

- During the time that you worked in the Federation of Diving in the position of executive director, what feeling was stronger - alertness or support?

- Definitely support.

I was very well received by the team, in the regions where I managed to visit, people also reacted very warmly to my appointment.

There is a lot of support from the Ministry of Sports and the ROC, thanks to this there is a certain optimism.

- Remained sheer nonsense - to jump from the tower in order to finally feel like "my own".

- And I jumped, "a soldier", in the Olympic village, when I was engaged in swimming there.

True, not from the top ten.

Only once he rose ten meters, in the Saransk basin.

There is even a video on my phone as I walk up to the edge of the platform.

I shake a little, to be honest.

- But sooner or later you will have to jump from the top ten anyway ...

- Let this be another challenge for me.