A young teenager, who was forced to seek refuge with his family in Edinburgh following the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia, has been touted as a potential tennis star after excelling in local and national competitions.
Arsenii Opryshko, 13, used to live in Kharkiv, a region that Russia has attempted to annex into their Federation, was on holiday with his family in Egypt when the war broke out. Due to Ukraine shutting off their airspace after the invasion, Arsenii and his parents, Vadym and Olga, found themselves stranded with just holiday clothes in a suitcase.
Guests at the hotel they were staying at realised that the family was in a particularly precarious position and managed to club together for the Ukrainians to be able to travel back and stay with a German family they had met in Egypt.
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In Southern Germany they soon found that there were several Ukrainian refugee families in the same position as themselves. German authorities recognised the experience of both of Arsenii’s parents and recruited them to help with refugee support, Edinburgh Leisure reported.
But the family were forced out of Germany after the government there felt they had fled from a safe country in Egypt. Therefore they had only been granted holiday Visas.
This led to Vadym discovering the Scottish Government’s Super Sponsor Scheme. They arrived in Scotland on July 15 after a retired police sergeant, Mark McCool and his husband in Broomhouse agreed to sponsor them in Edinburgh.
Vadym and Olga had successfully managed to enrol their talented tennis playing son into a programme in Germany and hoped that they would be able to do the same once they arrived in Scotland.
Mark thankfully recognised Arsenii’s talent and along with support from Mandy Fairnie, the operations manager at Edinburgh Leisure’s Craiglockhart Tennis Centre, they managed to secure coaching from various sources, including coaches at the Edinburgh flagship tennis centre, the East of Scotland tennis clubs and Tennis Scotland.
Arsenii is now a member of Hatton Sports Club, which has tennis, padel tennis, squash and racketball facilities and is situated on the A71 near Kirknewton. Caroline Newton, one of the committee members at Hatton, and a fellow Ukrainian host, secured free membership of the club, with the cooperation of her fellow committee members.
Recently Arsenii beat other talented junior tennis players by winning the LTA Scotland Tour, Grade 5, Boys U16 event, which took place in Broughty Ferry – coming first, and also came second in a similar event at Dalgety Bay on October 14.
Mark McCool, host to the family said: “There’s no doubting the tennis talent of this young lad, especially in taking the overall trophy for the Under 16 Boys Singles competition, when he is only 13 years. Yet it shouldn’t be underestimated the hoops this family have had to through just to get to this stage.
“Like many of their fellow countrymen, none of them have chosen the journey they have all been on, but they are making the best of a bad situation. I’m so grateful to everyone that has supported the family so far to help progress their son’s talent.
“But then again, participating in tennis doesn’t come cheaply. And while everyone has given up their time freely until now, there are always the hidden costs associated with competing at such a level, including rackets, balls, shoes, entry costs etc.”
Arsenii was a pupil at Gymnasium Number 13, a secondary school in Kharkiv. He holds a national ranking in his chosen sport of tennis and as a talented tennis player undertook three hours of tennis coaching per day.
Since 2016, Edinburgh Leisure say that they have successfully delivered a ‘Relocated People Access programme’ in partnership with Edinburgh City Council’s Migration and Refugee Team. Through the project, Edinburgh Leisure gives relocated people access cards, which allows them free use of their facilities for six months while they are settling into their new city.
They are currently supporting around 2,000 people from countries around the world including Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Syria. More recently they have also started providing children who are new to the city with free use of their facilities, places on their children’s sports coaching programmes and places on their holiday sports camps over the summer to help them enjoy the active childhood they deserve.
Vadym Opryshko, father to Arsenii said: “As a family, we couldn’t have asked for a more supportive welcome from so many different people in Edinburgh. Like any parents, we just want the best for our child and for Arsenii, it’s to continue developing his natural tennis ability, despite the challenges we have experienced since leaving our homeland.”
Mark McCool added: “My partner and I, along with so many other members of the local and tennis community have welcomed this displaced family into our hearts. Arsenii is one talented individual when it comes to playing tennis, and we couldn’t be prouder of his achievements over the weekend.
“We just hope we can continue to find support to nurture his talent while he is a guest in Scotland.”
You can read more about their story at the Edinburgh Leisure site here.
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