The Bulgarian Ski Federation (BFSki) honoured the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Department of Winter Sports of the NSA Vasil Levski.
The anniversary of NSA Sports Department at the Maxima Hall of the Academy was attended by the President of the Federation, Tseko Minev, deputy Georgi Bobev, and the four directions coordinators Ivan Kanevchev, Emmanuel Frateva, Zahari Sotirov and Veselin Tsinzov.
Other important personalities also attended the event, such as current stars Albert Popov with his coach Ivaylo Borisov and Radoslav Yankov with his coach Georgi Atanasov. Among the guests was the snowboarder from the recent past Alexandra Zhekova and first Winter Olympiad medalist Ivan Lebanon.
The BFSki President greeted the guests and stressed the important role the Department has played over the years in developing Bulgarian winter sports.
The event gathered in Aula Maxima and other iconic names represented in the Department of Sports: skiing, ski running, snowboarding and biathlon.
Among the special guests were Ekaterina Dafovska and Irina Nikulchina, as well as the Chairman of the Biathlon Federation, Atanas Furnadzhiev, and the most successful coaches. D.C. Petar Yankov presented interesting facts from the historical development of snow sports in Bulgaria and from the life of the Department.
Ski training has been part of higher sports education since 1942. , with the creation of the State Higher School of Physical Education (now NSA Vasil Levski), where all students compulsorily study the practical subject “Ski”, and the first teachers are students of Western European universities.
Back in 1943, the first course was held with 60 students at the “Aleko” – Vitosha hut. Thus, from the very beginning, ski courses became a tradition for NSA Vasil Levski, forming a ski culture for all generations of students. In 1953 the Ski Department was established, with its first head becoming Professor Ivan Staykov.
Currently, the Snow Sports Department trains students in five major Olympic sports in the three educational qualification degrees – bachelor, master and doctorate.