OREANDA-NEWS. Uralkali (LSE: URKA, the “Company”) has launched a large-scale project to develop youth basketball in the towns of Berezniki and Solikamsk (Perm region, Russia). The project is supported by the Perm region’s Ministry of Physical Culture and Sports, as well as the Berezniki and Solikamsk town administrations. In the current season alone, the Company plans to invest almost RUB 25 million in the project.

The project seeks to popularise basketball as a sport for everyone, and to promote a healthy lifestyle amongst young people in Berezniki and Solikamsk. The project aims to unite the maximum possible number of children and teenagers around a common idea, and to give each of them an opportunity to increase their involvement in physical activity close to where they live. In addition, an important goal of the project is to deter young people of both towns from engaging in socially detrimental activities.

Over the next five years, the project is expected to lead to the creation of 75 basketball classes, the redevelopment of more than 10 sports centres, and the purchase of new uniforms and equipment. The project will involve the towns’ schools and youth sports institutions. 1,600 pupils aged between 7 and 17 are expected to participate in the new sports classes. They will be able to keep in shape even during the school holidays as basketball classes will be set up in summer sports camps in the Perm region. Each year, the best players will represent Berezniki and Solikamsk at the All-Russian Mini-Basketball Festival in Anapa, and will attend workshops in Serbia.

The project will focus particularly on the establishment of a cadre of high quality sports staff. Trainers from the International Basketball Federation – Zoran Dozic, Sasha Miletic, Michael Popovic and Milan Hinig – will act as the senior coaches of the project. In addition, a pool of eight local coaches will be formed to work in schools and sports centres in Berezniki and Solikamsk. These steps will lay the foundation for the future expansion of basketball in both towns with the aim of developing professional players.