Our history. Sambo in Verkhnyaya Pyshma – yesterday, today, tomorrow (Part #1)
24.05.2018
This year our national sport sambo celebrates its 80th anniversary. Sambo is no longer just a martial arts discipline for Verkhnyaya Pyshma, but a kind of symbol of the town, its stock-in-trade, by which it is recognized far beyond not only the Urals, but also Russia. In the anniversary year, we decided to prepare a number of articles that would tell you how this martial arts discipline had appeared in the town, how our sambo school had managed to hit an all-time high. Also you will learn who stands behind all this and, of course, what the future may hold for sambo in Verkhnyaya Pyshma.
Nowadays, there are more than 500 people of different ages practicing sambo in the town. Most of them are children. Sambo classes are free of charge. Training takes place in different halls. The main place where our champions train is in Baltym village. There is also a group of young sambo wrestlers there. One more wrestling hall is located within the swimming pool building. Wrestling rooms are located in School No. 25, in School No. 33, in School No. 3, and in the boarding school for blind and visually impaired children.
The strongest sambo club in Russia and in the entire world was created here in Verkhnyaya Pyshma. It is the UGMK Sambo Club. Such names as Alsim Chernoskulov, Ilya Khlybov, Vladimir Balykov, brothers Ilya and Dmitry Lebedev, Timur Galliamov, Valery Soronokov, Aymergen Atkunov have already been written in the history of world sambo. The new champions are getting ready to compete for the future victories as well.
The history of sambo in the town dates back more than fifty years. Everything began in 1962. The first sambo class was opened due to the efforts of Vasily Kuzhnikov. In the period from 1962 to 1964, Vasily Kuzhnikov was personally heading the class. Later, he passed the torch to Mikhail Mashkov who was working at the Verkhnyaya Pyshma Copper Electrolytic Plant. Sambo classes were held in a small room at the local stadium. Back then, there were only about twenty people in the class.
In the 1970s, the number of those wishing to master the art of sambo wrestling increased to 150 people. A new coach Gennady Oleynikov joined the sambo class. Gennady Oleynikov dedicated a lot of his time and effort to sambo classes for children, although he worked at the Verkhnyaya Pyshma Copper Electrolytic Plant as well. He was more than just a coach to those children. He was their Teacher. A lot of children attended the class who were not previously known for their exemplary behavior out on the street. Sambo taught them discipline and developed a sense of responsibility for the knowledge and skills they learned during sambo classes.
Two trainees of Gennady Oleynikov became coaches. They are Mikhail Pyatkov and Alexander Tolmachev. These two men managed to maintain and revive sambo class. Later, sambo class moved from a small room at the stadium to a larger sports hall in the community center “Metallurg”. There, in the former fitness hall, a purpose-made sambo hall has been set up.
Merited Coach of Russia, Honored Worker of the All Russia Association of the Blind (VOS) Alexander Tolmachev:
"I went in for wrestling in 1979. All my classmates joined sambo class, so I did the same thing. Gennady Oleynikov was our couch. He gathered the boys around him. Most of us were fatherless. Therefore, the authority of the coach was indisputable. We trained in a small room at the stadium. There were old mats with a torn "cover" (the material covering the mats) on top. After a while we moved to a sports hall in the community center “Metallurg”. There we finally had a good and appropriate mat. A gym was also set up there. The first successes were not long in coming. Gennady Oleynikov worked diligently to get us well prepared for the competitions. We won regional competitions, competitions of the Regional Council "Trud" and others.
We used to workout in our old school jackets and go out on the mat in our socks. It was allowed then. We all were within a few years of the same age so there were no problems with communication. A lot had been achieved through our own effort. For example, We were getting fit with a barbell We made notes ourselves recording the amount of weight lifted. I was the first of this generation of guys to perform the Master of Sports.
Of course, there were also some unpleasant things happened to me. It happened before my entering the institute. The honored coach Alexander Kozlov came up to me and said, if I wanted to be admitted, I need to transfer to Uralmash class to train under his coaching. I remained loyal to my coach Gennady Oleynikov and turned down the proposal. When I failed to make it into college, Alexander Kozlov came up to me again and said: "Got it?" Of course, I got everything and soon moved to Uralmash.
Nonetheless, the basics I got in the Verkhnyaya Pyshma sambo class in the late seventies and early eighties allowed me to achieve everything in my life. It was a right decision to come back here again."
Master of Sports in Sambo, Master of Sports in Judo, coach Gennady Oleynikov:
"My move to Verkhnyaya Pyshma was facilitated by Boris Bazhenov. I had to leave Kyrgyzstan without the consent of my employer. A new work record book was issued here in Verkhnyaya Pyshma. I replaced Mikhail Mashkov as a coach. He and I were on good terms afterwards, but his trainees could not practice under my methods and left the class.
I used to coach boys after work in the factory for the first little while. When the second sambo class enrollment was opened, I realized I would not simply have enough time for a new group. So, I took two extra days a week off from work. Some time later, I ultimately left the factory and dedicated the rest of my life to coaching.
At first, we trained in a small hall at the local stadium. I even had to do designs for the possible expansion of the pavilion at the stadium, but its implementation has stalled, even though it looked very attractive on paper. I examined different sports halls and estimated their facilities. I noticed that the classes were held with significant intervals, so I suggested moving sambo class to School No. 22.
All our efforts had not been in vain. Ultimately we were provided with an appropriately equipped sambo hall in the local community center.
Coaches Tolmachyov and Pyatkov were among the first trainees of mine. When Sasha Tolmachev came to the class, he did not look like a wrestler at all. Small in stature, not flexible enough, but with an iron character. Then I said he would become the first Master of Sports among those boys trained in the class. And I was not mistaken. He still recalls that prophecy.
I tried to be with my trainees during all the competitions. They had to be kept occupied in between fights, so I allowed them to take some liberties. They could play cards for squats or push-ups, for instance. I was always beside my boys to make sure nothing bad would happen to them.
The trademark of my trainees was excellent technique. We exercised systematically, that is why we managed to defeat sambists from other class. Opponents even happened to be in tears after losing the bout. I aimed to share my experience and skills with the boys. Everything was fine until perestroika broke out.”
(This will be talked about in more details in the following publications.)
Answering the question how sambo helps athletes in life, Gennady Oleynikov said that, first of all, sambo was an applied sport. Here you can test yourself, gain confidence, improve your physical quality. As a rule, a strong man is usually a kind man. He burns off his spare energy in exercising and gets harmless.