After arriving at the Minor Arena of the Luzhniki Stadium, which is hosting the final match of the of the youth hockey tournament between Penza Forward and Chelyabinsk White Bears, the prime minister proceeded to the central stand, where he was immediately surrounded by young players asking for his autograph.

Mr Putin made a speech at the opening ceremony and performed the symbolic face-off.

Vladimir Putin’s speech at the opening ceremony:

Ladies and gentlemen, athletes and supporters. Golden Puck is one of the most prestigious youth tournaments and has been held for nearly 50 years now. The idea to hold youth hockey tournaments emerged after our hockey team’s splendid performance at the 1964 Innsbruck Winter Olympics. These tournaments, and sports in general, enable an individual (a young individual in this case) to show their best qualities and skills – courage, strength, agility, as well as determination to win and integrity.

I would like to wish you all success and assure you that the Russian government, as well as your regional leaders will make every effort to expand the opportunities for sports.

I would like to wish all of you present here to capture the most vibrant moments of the game and enjoy them as much as possible, and good luck to our young athletes. I declare the final game open!

I had the pleasure to practice with these teams yesterday, or rather an opportunity to learn from them. I talked to one of these young players and asked him, “How old are you?” I think he will remember that conversation. He said, “Twelve.” “And how long have you been ice skating?” I asked, and he said, “Nine years.” That means he learned to ice skate only a short time after he learned to walk!

This tournament will not only help create a good basis for the development of professional ice-hockey – a high performance sport – but will also help pick the most gifted young players, create new Russian hockey stars.

Good luck to you all!

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Prime Minister Vladimir Putin hands the Golden Puck Youth Hockey Cup to the Chelyabinsk White Bears after the game.

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Prime Minister Vladimir Putin meets with Russian sports officials and veteran hockey players during a timeout at the Golden Puck Youth Hockey Finals

Transcript:

Vladislav Tretyak: Mr Putin, this year Russian ice hockey turns 65. We would like to ask you to support hockey – the best hockey players – with some government awards.

Vladimir Putin: We’ll do that.

Vladislav Tretyak: They deserve it.

Vladimir Putin:  I’m impressed with how they played! The passion, the enthusiasm!

Remark: The White Bears especially.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, their skill level is excellent.

Vyacheslav Starshinov: The White Bears, the starters, they played their best. They are well-trained, and they skate real well.

Vladimir Putin: Yeah, they know how to skate, and with style.

Remark: That isn’t some homemade hockey at the rink next door.

Remark: Higher quality.

Remark: They could be trained for the Sochi Olympics.

Vladimir Putin: The first age group is 9-10, and the teams that played today are 11-12. The next group is 13-14 of course, and I think they should be trained for 2014.

Remark: Yes, they’re ‘good stock,’ as Anatoly Tarasov liked to say. We’ve got good stock.

Vladimir Putin: I just said – when I skated here with the boys the other day, I asked one of them, “How old are you?” And he says, “twelve.” “How long have you been ice skating?” And he says, “Nine years.” That means he learned to ice skate at three, only a short time after he learned to walk!

Vladislav Tretyak: Well, if you come at age five and you can’t skate, they don’t take you. I began playing at 11, but I had skated before that, at Gorky Park and at local community rinks.

Vladimir Putin: Well, I’m just beginning. But it’s never too late to learn.

Remark: You might as well try roller-blades. You could roller-skate.

Vladimir Putin: Well I don’t think so. But I really liked ice skating when I tried. I went to a training camp when I did judo, in college – we went to Medeo, just a health improving camp. I first tried skating there. I had some skates, an old worn-out pair, and I nearly sprained my ankle. I felt like a cow on ice too, with hooves sliding around… I thought skating just wasn’t my thing. So I took them off and never did it again. But things have changed now. We have better equipment and better skates.

Vladislav Tretyak: We never even dreamed of better gear. When I first played in the World Cup, at 18, in Finland, I went to see some amateur hockey there. I stood watching the keeper who had a trapper better than mine, and I played for a national team! And that guy had this beautiful glove, his very own, while I had none at all. God, was I jealous. But these boys have all they need, skates, uniforms and equipment. They all play in masks.

Vladimir Putin: The sports minister told me all about your training system yesterday. Mr Mutko, please tell us again.

Vitaly Mutko: Everyone here has a good hockey background. You’ve been in many hockey schools. As I told you Mr Putin, we analysed the whole training system before 1991. Remember we had youth schools, Lokomotiv, Trudovye Rezervy, CSKA. Nearly every club had a system for training young athletes.

Vladimir Putin: Well, the ministries and departments that sponsored the clubs,  supported the schools, including the Defence Ministry.

Vitaly Mutko: In 2004, nearly all of that was handed over to municipal and regional authorities. We plan to restore the old system now. A decision has been made – all of specialised children’s schools will be reviewed. This year, we determined the basic sports for each region. So 80 regions will develop hockey.

We’ll reorganise the whole training system to a single standard. There will be teaching standards and standard wages for the coaches. We’ll start working on this next year.

Vladimir Putin: What Mr Mutko means is a single standard for the students’ physical fitness and sports training. Right now, it is even unclear what should be taught. There are no standards for sport or physical training.

Remark: They outsource it from the United States, pay for it, and don’t even know what we should get for our money.

Vladimir Putin: We need to structure the responsibility, from the municipal governments, to the regions and finally to the federal government – I am referring to the training of national and Olympic teams.

Vitaly Mutko: There will be two main national centres, each training two line-ups for the national team. These centres will have state orders. We will sign an agreement with [Moscow Mayor] Sergei Sobyanin. This year, we have allocated 1 billion roubles to support the national team and each regional school. We have selected the Chelyabinsk hockey school which will receive a state order financed from the federal budget. This system will start operating soon.

Vladimir Putin: It appears that grassroots sports have largely become the municipal governments’ responsibility, like in many other areas. But their budgets are meager and even their motivation is often low. As a result, sport is financed with leftovers and is left unattended. So we need to restore an attitude for financing this activity and the responsibility for its results.

Sergei Sobyanin: On the other hand, look how many sport facilities have been built in the past few years – swimming pools and gyms, a lot of new facilities in five to seven years. We just need to coordinate the programmes.

Remark: But still more need to be built. Canada has 3,500 ice rinks; and we have only 350.

Vladimir Putin: We were just sitting here in the stands with some veteran skaters who confirmed that there were very few artificial ice rinks in the past. Where were they? Three in Moscow and two in St Petersburg, that was all. Now people can learn to skate in Rostov, and Krasnoyarsk, and Krasnodar. Why? Because they have skating rinks available now.

Remark: There are 30 in Tatarstan!

Sergei Sobyanin: The more we build, the more skaters there are. Parents are happy to bring their boys to play hockey or to skate.

Vladimir Putin: We have discussed that too. Who brings their kids? High-income families, because you have to buy a uniform and pay the coach. But you also need to arrange with the Ministry of Education – a good idea – to build inter-school skating rinks and other sports facilities. With ice hockey, one ice rink should be enough for several schools. It’s not like building a community skating rink where you never know how many kids live in the neighborhood and how many would use it. At a school, it is obvious how many kids there are and what age they are. The same system works in science – there is one science lab for several universities. It should certainly work for schools – one ice rink for several schools.

Vitaly Mutko: Take, for instance, the system of hockey schools. Overall, we have around 300 children in training – in specialised hockey schools alone. We certainly insist that this should be free of charge. Parents are only asked to pay for the preliminary training. Mr Sobyanin and I have inspected one school, Umka. There are 500 students. It’s a great school. Children are accepted at age six. Parents pay for preliminary training, before they are sorted into the basic school. But once you are selected, tuition becomes free, and so is equipment and hockey gear.

The reason I am saying this is that municipal governments are often short of money. They are given 50% to 70%. You signed a unique resolution this year. After Vancouver, we analysed the state of women’s hockey. It appears many girls are interested in learning.

For the first time ever, the federal government allocated 60 million roubles – 10 million each to six teams in Russia. For the first time, we are giving money to teams that play, to build interest. The women’s teams received 10 million roubles each in government support. Their budget is about 30 million.

Vladimir Putin: I just watched them go – they are fast!

Vitaly Mutko: It’s for the World Cup!

Remark: They play so well.

Vladimir Putin: There is a good sports base in Novorogsk, everyone saw it.

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The day before the Golden Puck Youth Hockey Finals, Mr Putin took part in the young athletes’ practice session. Prior to that, he worked out with a coach, learning to skate in a very short time. Famous veteran hockey player Alexei Kasatonov coached him. They often practiced after midnight, when the prime minister’s working day was over.