Ukraine's U-18 national hockey team took part in a training seminar of the Council of Europe

Members of the Ukrainian national U-18 ice hockey team took part in the training seminar “Champions of Respect: Promoting Equality and Inclusion in Sport” organized by the Council of Europe in cooperation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Ukrainian Hockey Federation. The training was held at the European Youth Center in Budapest as part of the implementation of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Rebuilding” for 2023-2026.

The aim of the workshop was to focus the athletes' attention on the principles of the European Sport Charter on promoting equality and integrity in sport, combating discrimination, understanding and countering hate speech, and the key role of sports ambassadors in promoting positive values of sport.

During the seminar, participants learned to identify hate speech in sports, ways to respond on it and combat it, and studied the role of an athlete as an ambassador in promoting equality and inclusion in sports. Young hockey players took part in practical exercises and scenario-based exercises in which teams work together to learn how to respond to situations involving discrimination or harassment.

As part of the event, Nataliia Radchuk, Head of Department of International Cooperation and European Integration of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, Secretary of the Interagency Working Group “National Platform of Sports Integrity,” held a separate session for players of the Ukrainian U-18 ice hockey team on the issues of manipulation of sports competitions and other threats to the integrity of sports, such as doping and match-fixing.