Our city got a new big sports present for today! After the official inauguration of the Chernomorets stadium, one more object, namely, multifunctional and modern Sports Academy was opened.
On 25 November 2011 the official inauguration of the first Ukrainian sports center for multifunctional training of the rugby national team was held in Odessa. The center is called the Sports Academy. The inauguration ceremony was represented by the Head of the State Service for Youth and Sports of Ukraine, Ravil Safiullin, the Head of fraction of the Party of Regions in Odessa City Council, Gennadiy Trukhanov, the President of the Rugby Federation of Ukraine, Vladislav Bulgakov and the Chairman of the Standing Committee for Youth and Sports of Odessa City Council, Oleg Etnarovich.
Congratulations on such an outstanding event, dear Oleg Etnarovich and the rugby club ‘Credo’!     
Ravil Safiullin, Head of the State Service for Youth and Sports says:
‘Inauguration of the Sports Academy is a big step forward to the development of sports and popularization of the healthy life style in Odessa and in the whole country. I would like to thank all the participants of this project and call to the people not being indifferent to the sports to follow in steps of such participants.’
The sports complex was commissioned in 1982. And 30 years later the complex is renovated. The first stage of the project called Sports Academy has been implemented. The stage covered the full reconstruction of the main structure of the sports complex as well as the swimming pool with 6 swimming lanes of up to 25 meters, multifunctional sports hall, weightlifting hall, sport aerobic hall as well as sports medicine center. Moreover, the sports complex has a grass playing field.
Oleg Etnarovich, Director of the sports complex ‘Sports Academy’ says:
‘We are sure that the Sports Academy will be a new step in sports development of Odessa and Ukraine. One of the main sports problems in our country is absence of training centers. The centers that we inherited from the former USSR are in a bad condition. And opening of a new modern sports complex in Odessa will let the sportsmen develop their manpower’.
Besides the rugby teams, the Sports Academy has other sports sections such as karate, calisthenics, powerlifting, rugby team of children etc. There is also a project called ‘Water of Life’ where the pupils with limited physical capacity from Odessa boarding schools will have a possibility to train at the complex absolutely free of charge. Moreover, the members of the Paralympic Team of Ukraine are also trained here. 
Next stages of construction provide erection of the stadium with 2000 seats; training field with artificial cover, multifunctional gymnasium with 300 seats, tennis academy and hotel for the sportsmen up to 70 persons.
Congratulations on such an outstanding event, dear Oleg Etnarovich and the rugby club ‘Credo’!     
www.rugbyodessa.com