The boy moved to Dobrotvir from Donbas. His father Roman joined the team of power engineers at Dobrotvirska TPP. Roman says he was very happy when he found out that Dobrotvir had a ‘Come on, play!’ project, because Ivanko used to play football in his native Kramatorsk.
‘I love the sport myself, and when I was younger, I also played football and never missed a training session. Like every father, I also wanted my son to follow in my footsteps. Therefore, from a young age, I began to foster a love of football - I took him to training and often went to live football matches. And I saw that Ivan liked it. That's why we keep working hard to become pros at what we do,' says Roman, a power engineer and Ivan's dad.
Ivan himself was so emotionally rooting for his favourite players that he even lost his voice after the match, but came back happy.
‘I was rooting for Yarik Rakitskii, he is a defender. And when I play, I am also on the field among the defenders. That's why I closely watched his techniques,' says the future football player.
A total of 50 children who play football in the Come on, Play project attended the Shakhtar vs Dynamo football match in Lviv. They came back with positive emotions and a 1-0 victory for their favourite FC Shakhtar.
The development of football for children in time of war is a great mission of Shakhtar Social, which DTEK sincerely supports as a general partner. Currently Come on, Play is present in 33 locations across Ukraine. More than 1,900 children participate in the programme.