Pick-up your Phygital ID

The first phygital center opened in Kemerovo. Dmitry Cherbyshenko, Oleg Matytsin and Robert Ufenok77 Fakhretdinov participated in the opening ceremony.

“Wow, I would stay here”, – says one school student speaking to his peer. The first phygital center opened in the capital of Kuzbass. It is a place where one can practice sport and esport in a unique space. It is the cross-road of two universes – virtual and real.

Despite harsh weather (it was snowing in the morning in Kemerovo) the pupils of sport schools were looking forward to the start. From now on you can train and compete in a new format – which is more on a technologically advanced playground. A nice design, a zone with game consoles, VR, game computers – in short, enough room for esportsmen to prove their mettle, and right next door – street football, street basketball, workout and panna-football.

Deputy chairman of the Russian government Dmitry Chernyshenko made a welcome speech via a video conference: “We see that the young generation feels the need to develop in all formats. I am confident that the new type of leisure and sport will gain popularity and phygital centers like this one will be created in other regions of our country”.

Russia’s Ministry of Sport Oleg Matytsin and Robert Fakhretdinov also participated in the ceremonial kick off of the children’s tournament in phygital football as they passed the ball to each other in the center of the real futsal court – which was quite symbolic due to the synergies between classical sport and cybersport on this territory.

“A week ago, I was at the Phygital Games in Kazan at the first event of the tournament series in the run-up to the Games of Future. Everything was organized at the highest level. It’s great that the young guys in Kemerovo will have the opportunity to get a feel for it, to master phygital format in sport: when you play on a game console first and then you step out on the football field to play and prove your mettle there”- Robert shared his emotions.

“I believe it is cool for the kids. Everyone loves to play with gadgets. It’s hard to take them off it. And here it turns out you must be good in virtual games and also not lag behind physically. You already realize that if you want to achieve success in the Games of Future format, you must take care of yourself, exercise and be physically fit and this is very important” – the sportsman added.

The Phygital center is not just about combining digital and physical activities, but also about the technological equipment of the sport ground. A special smart system makes is possible to accumulate the statistics of each sportsman, his results both in the virtual universe and on the sports arena. Here one can log training hours, get together a team to hold a tournament or shoot a video of one’s practice session to present it later to the coach when reporting to him. The phygital center also offers a “loyalty program” in order to motivate visitors to practice in both zones and be truly phygital.

“We see that the kids flock to the center and communicate with interest. There is an element of competition here, so I am confident that this project has a bright future. I am confident that people will use this center and its educational programs with a keen interest for the sake of their own education and harmonious development of their personality”, – Oleg Matytsin summed up his tour of the phygital center.

All work related to such serious and sophisticated technological project is carried out by the company “National technologies” (state corporation “Rostec”):

“The opening of the first Phygital center in Kazan kick started a large-scale project involving the launch of smart sports sites all over Russia. New sports grounds will also be opened this year in Lipetsk, Chita, Oryol, Kaluga and Birobidjan. Our goal is to help the Ministry of Sport to create affordable infrastructure to promote mass participation events to make our fellow citizens more active in sports with special focus on the youth – traditional sports and cybersport were united in the “phygital” format precisely for the sake of the young generation. We hope that in the next three years more than 500 “smart” regional sport and E-sports grounds along with more than 50 Phygital centers united by a common digital platform and a mobile application will be created”- stressed “National technologies” CEO Konstantin Yunov.