Oilmen start and win
On May 17 noisy and cheery crowd filled the children’s recreation camp “Rovesnik”. But the reason for the event was not the arrival of the first party of kids (though it will take place in a few days), but the final game of the XXVth Olympics of the OAO “Saratovneftegas” (a subsidiary of “RussNeft” company”. More than 200 representatives of all the shops and subdivisions took place in the competitions. Last Saturday the oilmen competed in mini-football and volleyball. It was the second, summer stage of the Olympics. The winter stage took place in winter and included skiing, table tennis, chess and checkers.
Before the start Deputy Director for General Matters of OAO “Saratovneftegas” Dmitry Katyshev wishes all the sportsmen sportive luck, friendship and mutual respect. The participants break the ranks and move to their sites. Today they want to forget their positions, their ages, obligations and other things. Formerly competitions of this kind were held almost at every plant. But later many plants stopped this practice, thinking it, probably, a mere waste of time and money. But this is a wrong point of view. Corporative sport events are one of the forms of implementation of social business policy, they are aimed not only at raising team spirit and loyalty of the personnel, but at improving the workers’ health as well. The system of corporate sport events is only starting to form up in Russia as an element of business culture, but “Saratovneftegas” is holding the 25th Olympics already.
According to the Chairman of the Trade Union Committee Valentina Pudzyrei there were only five or six teams in the beginning. But later their number increased up to twelve teams. All the subdivisions of the plant, all the service plants are eager to take part in the event. The plant rents gyms to give the workers the possibility to train. One must have the soul of a sportsman to go the gym after a day’s work, but there is no lack in enthusiasts.
It is easy to see that the Olympics is a real festival for the oilmen. It could be seen from the excitement of the sportsmen who had spent six (1) hours at the football and volleyball sites. Management and support stuff competed on equal terms. You could see fathers and sons playing for different teams – it is a frequent case, especially if they work at different shops..
The specific feature of the summer stage of the Olympics is that the majority of the participants are men. But the representatives of the fair sex were found in volleyball teams too. One of the best volleyball players proved to be the Financial Director of OAO “Saratovneftegas” Vera Tarasova. She admitted, that there were never any doubts for her to participate in the Olympics or not. “It’s a tradition”, she says, “Everybody tries to make their best, to support the team of their shop and just to bring up some adrenaline in their everyday life”.
The fans – colleagues, wives, children – made a very good job supporting their teams. “They are the second half of each team”, says Vera Tarasova, “And it is difficult to say which half is more important”. The passion and vehemence of the fans means a lot for players. On that day emotions were at the level of professional sport.
After the final horn the names of the winners were announced. They were^ Mini-football – the team “Management”, volleyball – “Left-bank shops”. Besides, the oilmen of the Left bank won the crystal cup: it is the third year that they are announced the best sport team among all the subdivisions of “Saratovneftegas”.
Dmitry Korytin, the Head of Production Department (it is the eighth year of his participation in the Olympics) sums up: the competitions were a success! Many people notices that it was not the prizes and awards they were interested in, but the possibility to relax, communicate, feel the team spirit.
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The support the oilmen render to sports is not limited to holding corporate sport events. In accordance with the policy of social responsibility the company “RussNeft” and OAO “Saratovneftegas” render charity assistance to junior sports. For example, in 2007 the plan in Saratov sponsored two inter-regional kick-boxing tournaments, and one of them, the Cup of Russia, was won by Saratov sportsmen. OAO “Saratovneftegas” also sponsored projecting of FOC. And the most spectacular event among the “social assets” of the company was the Cup of Russia in auto spot, held on the Day of Cosmonautics at the site were Yuri Gagarin had landed.