Avangard

a voluntary sports association (VSA) of trade unions of the Ukrainian SSR uniting sportsmen and athletes from construction and mining enterprises and specialized high schools. It was created in 1957.

As of Jan. 1, 1968, there were 2,012,000 athletes in the VSA Avangard, joined in 3,844 collectives. Of these members 418,000 were engaged in tourism and hiking, 208,000 in volleyball, 186,000 in track and field, 155,000 in soccer, 57,600 in swimming, and 11,600 in gymnastics and calisthenics. The soccer clubs Shakhter (Donetsk) and Zaria (Lugansk) are part of Avangard. The association has 818 stadiums and sports complexes, 624 sports halls, and more than 11,000 sports grounds and soccer fields. Athletics and sports are directed by 3,873 expert trainers and 332,000 public instructors and umpires. Among the protégés of the VSA Avangard are rowing champions of the XVIII Olympic Games (1964) N. Chuzhikov and A. Khimich, the world champion in kayaking A. Shaporenko, chess grandmaster L. Shtein, 2,297 masters of sports, 23,735 candidates for master of sports, and first-ranked sportsmen.