Three schools, unique training systems, modern infrastructure and attention to every child – all this and much more fit in the Ak Bars Hockey Academy named after. Yu.I. Moiseev. KHL.ru resumes the section on hockey schools of KHL clubs. Mos…
Workshop of talents of Tatarstan. All about Ak Bars Hockey Academy
KHL.ru resumes the section on hockey schools of KHL clubs. Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yaroslavl, Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk – there are many hockey cities in Russia where the stars of national hockey were born and raised. Kazan is special in this list. With the scale inherent in Tatarstan, they deployed a large children's academy there, which went far beyond the capital of the republic.
Kazan Hockey Management Company
School Ak Bars has long ceased to accommodate all the boys who want to play hockey. In order not to deprive the next talent of breaking into big-time sports, the leadership of Kazan decided to create an academy, which, first of all, differs from a school in its scale.
The ideological inspirer of this project was the president of Ak Bars and the general director of Tatneft Nail Maganov. The head of the club has always advocated a clear system and a pyramid. In his opinion, this vertical should work at all levels, and in order for it to function correctly, a base is needed, which the new academy has become. By the way, its honorary president is Zinetula Bilyaletdinov – a man who needs no introduction.
From the outside it looks great. Let's figure out what's inside.
The Ak Bars hockey academy includes three schools at once: two in Kazan (Ak Bars and Dynamo) and one in Almetyevsk (Neftyanik). The Academy manages the training process of these schools. It's a completely different organizational model. Further – more difficult.
“The very concept of “academy” in Russia began to appear quite recently. Now they are created in different KHL clubs, this is a kind of trend. The essential difference between the school and Ak Bars Hockey Academy lies in the organization and tasks of these structures. I would call the Ak Bars Academy an analogue of a management company in the field of training hockey players,” the sports director of the Ak Bars Hockey Academy named after Yu. I. Moiseev told KHL.ru Evgeny Rychkov.
The main sports function of the academy is the scientific, methodological and medical and biological support of all three schools. For this, special programs for the development of hockey players aged 5 to 16 have been developed, and there is a separate program for educating goalkeepers. The writing of these programs was carried out by the staff of the academy, as well as invited experts, including the former coach of the Russian national team Igor Zakharkin. Finnish and Swedish experts also provided their assistance.
Another function of the Academy is the analysis of the training process and competitive activity. Coaches and management in the operating operating mode have tested a huge amount of modern equipment and studied many methods not only in hockey, but also in other sports. Moreover, the analysis is carried out not only on the basis of the protocols of matches. Coaches have the opportunity to study the actions of each player using modern equipment and technologies.
Tatneft Arena, base and training centers
Gorgeous conditions are another factor that distinguishes the Ak Bars Academy from its competitors and ordinary schools. Children can use exactly the same infrastructure as hockey players of the main team. The base, Tatneft Arena, where Kazan holds home matches, other ice palaces – all this is available to the club's pupils.
“Tatarstan is the region where everything is fine with the infrastructure. We have a sufficient number of training facilities, there are all the conditions for living nonresident hockey players, ”said Rychkov.
Despite all the cool objects that are at the disposal of the Academy, the new infrastructure continues to be built. For example, in Almetyevsk last year, a new center for hockey training Neftyanik was opened. This is an ultra -modern object where there is everything for raising young athletes: ice platforms, an acrobatics hall, a crossfit hall, a gaming room, throwing zones, a boarding school and much more. It is difficult to come up with conditions better than created in Almetyevsk.
From school to basics Ak Bars
The key task of the Academy is to bring players to the main composition of Ak Bars or Neftyanik. The club has a quite clear task of the number of pupils in the main team of the republic. Already now in Ak Bars they play Artem Galimov, Timur Bilyalov, Daniil Zhuravlev, Amir Miftakhov And many others are known that Dmitry Kvartalnov He loves to mess with youth, in Kazan he has someone to choose from.
“The club and the Academy have a clear task of preparing their own pupils. Under the solution of this problem, all the logic and technology of the Academy is built, ”said Rychkov.
The main problem of any hockey school is the transition of pupils from children's hockey to adult. How many examples we saw when a talented guy is lost in games with men. In Ak Bars thought this moment.
“The pupil must be physically prepared for the loads that he is to be. Very often you hear from the coaches that graduates do not know how to work with free weights (classes with rods and dumbbells in the gym – khl.ru). Our task is to prepare a young hockey player functionally. We put, including the technique of working with weights, before this was not always taught, ”said the sports director of the school.
The second aspect, which is extremely important – technical training.At the academy, this issue is given close attention every day, which allows the child to grow and compete further with professional hockey players.
Another familiar story: high school graduates are often not psychologically prepared for big hockey. But this hardly applies to the pupils of Ak Bars. The mental preparation of hockey players is an important part of the entire educational process. For example, a player must be able to deal with feelings of insecurity. At the Ak Bars academy, the coaches try to teach the guys to overcome these difficulties, because it largely depends on the psychological stability whether the pupil will make it to the adult team or not.
1.5 thousand boys and coaching capital
Ak Bars Academy schools play at the Russian Championship in the Volga Federal District. Interestingly, they all compete with each other. Now about one and a half thousand boys are studying at the academy. Every year, new students are recruited to the academy. We need to talk about the selection system separately.
Children pass tests, and then (if we talk about Kazan) they are distributed to two schools (Ak Bars and Dynamo). The academy is trying to do it evenly so that competition appears.
“In Ak Bars, there is no such thing that all potentially strong guys study at the same school. Competition is important for us, which is the engine of progress. Matches between our schools are very principled and arouse great interest in the city,” Rychkov said.
The main capital of the academy is its coaches. Experience, experience of achievement – all this is available to the mentors of the sports schools that are part of the Ak Bars Hockey Academy. Airat Mirkhanov, Pavel Kornilov, Stanislav Bolshakov, Artur Talipov, Vyacheslav Romanov, Sergei Mordvintsev, Oleg Bets – the list is very long.
I would like to acknowledge the work Lenara Vildanova. He recently released a team of guys born in 2003, who now form the basis of Irbis (MHL). Some of them gained a foothold in the VHL and were even involved in the Ak Bars training camp. This is the team that won the finals of the Russian Championship, won prizes at all-Russian competitions,” Rychkov said.
Such achievements of Vildanov are an illustration of the qualifications of a mentor. His coaching experience is 34 years. Now he works with a team born in 2014. There are doubts that in 11-12 years a part of this team will be in Ak Bars? We definitely don't.
Interestingly, the Ak Bars academy has a limit on visiting players. Teams older than 13 cannot have more than five hockey players not from Tatarstan. They see a mission in the academy – the development of local boys, natives of the republic. This is not surprising, if only because local hockey players are always more loved by fans. People who are ready to play for the emblem, colors, city and their region will always give the club more than a conditional legionnaire.
Symbolic team
Tatarstan hockey has something to be proud of. Miftakhov, Bilyalov, Albert Yarullin, Daniil Zhuravlev, Galimov, Khovanov, – All of them went through the Ak Bars school. It was very difficult to collect the symbolic team.
Goalkeeper Emil Garipov
Gagarin Cup, the world champion among youth-29-year-old pupil of Ak Bars has already won a lot. Garipov is a sign goalkeeper for Kazan. Despite the fact that he is now playing for the Vanguard, for fans he will always remain his own.
Defender Albert Yarullin
Each team should have such a person as Yarullin. The defender was born in Kazan and almost the entire career (not counting 15 games in Neftekhimik, spent the season in Atlanta and performances in the VHL) at Ak Bars. Yarullina is largely loved for devotion to the club and the city. Together with Ak Bars, he won the Gagarin Cup in 2018.
Defender Dinar Khafizullin
The SKA defense player at a wide range of fans is little associated with Ak Bars, although he spent his first match for his native team in the Super League.
All his successes at the club level are connected with the St. Petersburg team, but Ak Bars is the club that gave him a ticket to big hockey.
Forward Alexander Burmistrov
Burmistrov is the 2014 world champion. This is his main achievement in his career. He was born and raised in Kazan, left the ocean quite early, but won the Gagarin Cup with Ak Bars in 2018. In Kazan, he is considered one of the most talented pupils who were released from Ak Bars.
Forward Kirill Petrov
Petrov has four Gagarin Cup finals, but interestingly – he never won the main trophy of the KHL. Petrov is one of the most striking representatives of Kazan hockey. It is cool in that it can be equally useful in any link and any role.
Forward Vladimir Tkachev
One of the most talented generation players was an important part of the last champion of Ak Bars. Cool technique, vision of the site, pass – Tkachev can do beautifully. The fans of Kazan are still regretted about the departure of the central forward.
Yarullin: There are a lot of memories of the school, and they are all bright
Defender Ak Bars Albert Yarullin Especially for Khl.ru, I remembered the time spent at the school of my native club.
“There are a lot of memories, they are all bright: the same training, preparatory camps, games, tournaments. Of course, my first coach – Alexander Sergeevich Dyumin – The person who laid the entire foundation for the future. From our year, many play in other teams. His merit is great in that we are playing now in the KHL.
It's great that we had a sports class. Our lessons were adjusted to the training schedule. If the training was in the morning, then we studied in the second shift. The old ice palace was next to our school, we even had its own locker room. I want to again note Alexander Sergeyevich – he carefully monitored his studies and behavior. He had a diary – if you got into it, then you won’t go to training until you are corrected, ”Yarullin recalled.