USCAK officers discuss plans for sports events, publication

NEWARK, N.J. - Executive officers of the Ukrainian Sports Federation of the U.S.A. and Canada, better known by its Ukrainian acronym of USCAK, met at the home of the Chornomorska Sitch sports club on June 13 to discuss future plans.

The meeting was opened by USCAK President Myron Stebelsky, who presented as the first order of business a plan to convene a general meeting of the federation. Although such a convention of USCAK had been tentatively scheduled for October 2002, and registration forms as well as questionnaires pertaining to it were sent out to all Ukrainian sports and youth organizations, the response has been so disappointing that the convention had to be postponed until the spring of 2003.

Omelan Twardowsky, the press officer of USCAK, reported on the imminent publication of the book "USCAK and Sports in Ukraine," of which he is the compiler. This book is a collection of the most significant newspaper and magazine articles as well as other documents pertaining to the activities of USCAK over the period from 1956 to 2001. The majority of the materials are in Ukrainian, but there is an English-language section as well.

The publication will be financed by USCAK alone, without any advertising revenue, according to Alexander Napora, the USCAK financial secretary. It is reportedly being eagerly awaited by sports historians in Ukraine.

USCAK has reacted positively to a request from the Lviv Regional Chess Federation for financial support for its third Stepan Popel Memorial International Chess Tournament to be held in Lviv in the fall. USCAK had co-sponsored the first two Popel Memorials as well. Chessmaster Popel was a pre-war champion of Lviv and Halychyna and won the USCAK title in 1969. Thus, honoring his memory is viewed as a symbolic bridge between Ukraine and the diaspora. It is also notable that in 1997 USCAK sponsored the current world chess champion, Ruslan Ponomaryov of Kramatorsk, Ukraine. He was one of several outstanding Ukrainian chess players who received financial support from USCAK.

Finally, plans were confirmed to hold the annual USCAK tennis championship at Soyuzivka over Labor Day weekend. This year the traditional tournament, however, will be dedicated to the memory of Zenon Snylyk, former editor of "The Ukrainian Weekly" and "Svoboda," soccer star and avid tennis activist, who passed away in January. The tournament will be run by George Sawczak, USCAK tennis director.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, July 7, 2002, No. 27, Vol. LXX

| Home Page |