In the Very Center of the Richest Region...

In the very center of the richest region, on the bank of the most abounding in water Yenisei River a beautiful Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk is situated. It is considered a historical place - here four centuries ago the Siberian lands were freed by Cossacks and the territory of Russian State increased exactly by twice.

Siberia was explored and the frontiers of Russian empire stretched up to the coasts of the Pacific Ocean. The immense territories of Siberia were converted into the place where rebels-convicts were exiled to and where freedom-loving Cossacks from the southern outskirts of Russia escaped from serfdom.

Local natives were subdued and they assimilated with an increasing multinational stream of immigrants. The Old Believers who refused to accept the changes in the charter of Russian Orthodoxy rushed to the banks of the Yenisei. Thus, the culture of the region developed both from traditions of the pagan tribes and the powerfully taken roots Christianity.

Today Lomonosov's utterance sounds axiomatically: "Power of Russia will grow due to Siberia!" The prophetical vision of the first Russian scientist from Arkhangelsk remote area foresaw a future rise and prosperity of the Russian state!

Our region is the entire Mendeleyev's table. It is easier to say what Siberia doesn't have! The Evenki oil deposits are inconceivable; they store more than 400 billion tons of oil. And Vankor oil can compete to the best light sorts of oil extracted in the Gulf of Mexico!

Once Madeleine Albright (a former state secretary of the USA) mentioned at one of the international summits: "It is a great injustice that such rich Siberia belongs only to Russia, its natural resources should have been distributed all over the planet in regular proportions!"

But at all times people are and will be the main wealth of any country. Neither wars nor concentration camps (GULAG), nor social and economic shifts, nor natural disasters are capable to eradicate talented people. Life has always proved that!

Siberian BANDY is a visiting card of our region beyond boundaries of our country. An acquaintance with the region often begins with the meeting of representatives of this or that kind of sport. The Yenisei team of professionals glorified the region and the country

in the world sports tournaments many times.

The world history of BANDY keeps the gold pages of triumphal victories of YENISEI in the 1980s and 1990s. Those were the years when a huge Soviet empire, with abbreviation "the USSR", that had threatened to many nations of the world, was falling down.

But they call sport " messenger of peace" not in vain! During sports competitions hockey ice became "hot" not because it gathered together the top masters of an orange ball, but also because it "melted" down estrangement and isolability of the peoples shut behind the Iron Curtain.

After the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1992, the latest history of modern Russia began. The country started a new course of economic development. Everything was in a new fashion in this unknown movement. Firstly, the way of thinking should

have changed from dependency to market mentality and to a swift search for

new economic ways of development.

Bandy, as well as all professional sports, started to learn how to live and work in the new conditions. It is a universal truth that one has to work hard to achieve high results.

To be worthy of recognition, a leader, player or manager has to be highly qualified. Today our country overcame the period of a survival and the period of gradual growth has begun.

Sport has always had a remarkable distinctive feature - it is highly competitive, that is, a powerful principle of competition in it always prevails.

Of course, it is difficult to predict results of this or that match, it is impossible to define in advance who will win on a gymnastic scaffold or on a tennis court. This "puzzle" is an amazing force of attraction and general love to sports events.

Everyone knows that Greece, a mother land of Olympic Games, used to stop wars during sports competitions. Olympiads united people with the powerful appeal: " Higher! Better! Faster! " Modern sports draw many thousands of the admirers to the stadiums, and television of the 21st century with its digital technologies makes the planet one huge tribune.

At an economic forum in the Swiss city of Davos, the head of Russian delegation Herman Gref noticed that the world of today is moving along the path of increasing competition. Only the best goods, the latest technologies win. As for the top experts - they are expensive goods in the world labor market.

Sports teach people to win! High achievements in hockey have always been the results of huge work during practice period! Tournaments are either the reflection of underfulfilments during the training process or demonstration of a high level of the work done.

At the competition you cannot hide yourself! A defeat shows not competitive level of your training process. Sport of high achievements implies training all day long! The good sportsman "is killed" by not proper loadings or primitive training schemes.

The 21 ^st century challenges us: to be ready to endure all increasing competition in every sphere of life! It depends on each of us whether we are able to work better than others in a swiftly developing world or we are content with what we are already capable of, not making any efforts, just living by memories of the past achievements and not setting ambitious goals any longer!