Undefeated

Alexey Bortnikov, a boxer with 70 years of experience, has not gone to the ring for a long time, but has been conducting his most crucial battle for five years. For the right to do what love - to teach others

“Who does what hurts?” - Confident bass loudly and clearly spreads through the hall.

In response - the loud and friendly “Nothing!”: Even in the evening of Saturday, a group of babies came to training. On command, they line up in a line.

“Did you bring all the water? You know, otherwise I will not let it go. You can’t drink from the tap - you will get sick. Well, we take basketballs in our hands and go in a circle. ”

So the coach Bortnikov begins the next boxing lesson in the Semiluki Children's and Youth Sports School of Martial Arts. Alexey Nikolaevich is an amazing person. Firstly, because for about 70 years of his incomplete 86 he does not part with gloves and the ring. Secondly, he gave his favorite business, boxing, a whole city. He himself has not come to the ring for a long time, but today he has to fight for the opportunity to be in this gym.

Intelligence, virgin lands, aircraft factory

Alexey Bortnikov was born in the Semiluk district of the Voronezh region in 1933. Although, according to him, it is only written in the documents-in fact, he is a year or two older.

Alexei never saw his father - he was arrested as a “fist”. Mom and son moved to Georgia. While the woman was getting to work, the boy had to live in a boarding school. Then he returned to his family. But the relationship did not work out with the last stepfather: stepping up for his mother, his son broke his face with a drunken man and escaped from the house. For several weeks he rode nowhere, but in the Rostov region the Chumazy guy was removed from the train. So Bortnikov again hit the orphanage.

Alexey Nikolaevich houses in Semiluki Photo: Kristina Brazhnikova for TD

After the orphanage, he helped to cultivate the land on the collective farm for several years, then he entered the Taganrog craft school, studied at the welder and soon went to work in the Urals. Then he returned to Tbilisi and went to work in a specialty at the aviation plant. Already in the army, I happened to serve in intelligence, after - to raise the virgin land. And almost everywhere Alexei Bortnikov was accompanied by boxing.

Map on the arm

“At first I got well. The Georgians pounded Russian, which fell into them in the ranks, ”Bortnikov recalls. “But then I already beat everyone.”

Bortnikov began to study in 17, returning to Georgia. A tall, thin guy boxed frantically and stubbornly: today his right brush, like a map, is dotted with cavities and island convexities. These are traces of injuries - damage to tendons and fractures. Even gloves did not save.

Photo from the personal archive: Alexey Nikolaevich (right) and his athletics coach Alexander Sadovaya (left) photo: Kristina Brazhnikova for TD

“Whatever I did: football, and swimming, a barbell, and light athletics (I ran 20-30 kilometers in the morning). But this only improved my shape, trained endurance. And boxing is the most honest sport, the most fair, - Bortnikov lights up. - Do not beat below the belt, behind the back too. I hit the wrong thing - you were stopped. In the struggle, ears, ribs, etc. are breaking, no one will break anything in boxing. Only if you do not work out protection, you can get it in your nose. But in this case, the coach did not finalize, did not teach. ”

Photo from the personal archive: Alexey Nikolaevich (Far right) with students at the training camp in Sukhumi in 1973 Photo: Kristina Brazhnikova for TD

He recalls - in Georgia he won 12 republican championships. At about 28-29, he began to train the first students in the Sports Society “Labor Reserves”, then worked with the youth team of Georgia and the junior team of the USSR and raised dozens of titled athletes. But in the early 90s, I had to leave due to the aggravation of the political situation and unrest in which Alexei Nikolaevich lost his son. In his native Voronezh region, he returned with his wife and two daughters.

Photo from personal archive: Alexey Nikolaevich in competitions photo: Kristina Brazhnikova for TD

“Everyone moved from Tbilisi. No one stayed. They said: “ No, dad, we are with you ,” Alexei Nikolaevich proudly recalls. - My children are all with higher education, master of sports: girls - in athletics and basketball, son - on boxing. Daughters now live nearby - they have everything. Some grandchildren scattered. But when they arrive, here we have such ... oh ... - Bortnikov laughs. “The family is big.” Now he has sixteen grandchildren and great -grandchildren.

Hit

In the early nineties, it turned out to be no easier in Semiluki than in Tbilisi - literally everything was pulled and collapsed, Bortnikov recalls. He stumbled upon the building of the former Komsomolet cinema almost by accident, decided that it should come to the end, and began to restore the building. It took more than a year to work.

“The folk construction site, consider, was built. My former students helped with money. He made the floor himself, cooked batteries, welded trapezoids and handlers, repaired the windows. He brought his inventory from Georgia, he served for more than 14 years. ”

In 1993, after the building was restored, Alexei Nikolaevich spent the first boxing lesson in it, and a couple of years later he headed the children and youthful sports school of martial arts. For almost ten years everything went on as usual: he calmly raised the athletes, took them to competitions, looked for money for gloves, boxing bags and other expenses.

Training in the hall, in the village of Latnaya photo: Kristina Brazhnikova for TD

Bortnikov received the first blow in 2012. It was then that the officials of the district administration lowered Bortnikov in his position. Two years later he was fired - there is no specialized education. In response, he went outside - he continued to train the guys in the fresh air.

“Not only I was surprised at what was happening. Parents of the students were outraged by the decision of the administration. 50 people gathered. They still trust my children. And then they wanted me to continue to train. ”

The chairman of the Boxing Federation of the Voronezh region, Yuri Filimonov, recalls that Bortnikov was forced to leave the hall he built and because of disagreements with other coaches. Filimonov asked the head of the district administration to resolve the issue with the classes of Bortnikov, and the officials found a way out: they let Bortnikov into his hall - provided that he will train children for free, on a voluntary basis.

Fight

“For all those years that Alexei Nikolaevich teaches the guys to box, no one received a single serious injury. It is not a fact that a person with a “ crust ” can be just as competent. And the administration tells us that the form is more important than the content, ”says one of the students, 38-year-old Roman Kireev. “Probably, every fifth guy in Semiluki went through the hands of Alexei Nikolaevich.”

“We can say that the whole local box went from him. Why does he need this higher education? -another pupil is perplexed, 62-year-old Alexander Zharkikh. - He rebuilt this hall, acquired an inventory, and he was removed. By the way, the administration for all life bought only a few boxing bags. Is it possible? "

Since Bortnikov stopped being a coach, he cannot take the children to the competition. But he didn’t give up: a couple of years ago he sold an old house in the village and bought a used groove, on which he and other coaches still took the children to the competition. After some time, the bus was mutilated, the glass was broken, it was expensive to repair, I had to sell this groove for a penny, Bortnikov recalls.

“I want to help. From what conditions he did not pull out the guys - both alcohol and cigarettes. It was the same: you will come, talk, you’ll call for training, try to help somehow, tell you that life can be different. I saw her from many sides ... "

To regain official right to train himself, 85-year-old Alexei Bortnikov even decided to go to study: “I turned to one institution, and they told me that I needed 80 thousand to just make a document to me, supposedly a diploma. But where will I get that kind of money? I'm not a millionaire! My wife and I have enough pension, but not 80 thousand at once. ”

After the first workout, the younger pupils diverge, and the elders do strength exercises or work out photos: Christina Brazhnikova for TD

In the district administration, the situation is simply indicated: there is no education, so we can’t do anything.

“Alexey Bortnikov is a wonderful person and professional in his field. We greatly appreciate his contribution to the development of district sports. We always try to meet his requests, for example, at the moment they provided him with a premises for classes with children, provide material assistance and assistance in organizing sports events, ”says Olga Lanskaya representative. “There is no doubt that this person has enormous experience and the children love him, but we cannot arrange him against the law [No. 329-ФЗ “ On Physical Culture and Sports in the Russian Federation ” ].”

“Alexey Nikolaevich is very good as a children's coach. And the key moment is now - he is in health. He knows what he does and why, ”says Andrei Khalijan, the head of the Voronezh regional branch of the Russian Professional Boxing Federation. - And such a specialist as Bortnikov should be in every federation. There are many ways, for example, you can take his assistant coach. There would be a desire. "

Bortnikov does not want to find out the relationship. All he thinks about is in him and his knowledge. Even now, the coach is scheduled by the day: three times a week section in Semiluki, three more - in the village of Latnaya. In Bortnikov’s classes, dozens of people study from babies to pensioners, and each with their own approach.

For the smallest pupils of four to seven years-just developing exercises: kids run, train coordination, climb the rope and push-ups. Over time, it becomes clear who has the future in boxing, and who is better to go for swimming or football. Teenagers are already starting to box, adults and pensioners are studying thoroughly. For them - their own technique in which Bortnikov makes an unexpected accent.

Wandering tactics

“You don't raise your hand! Well, why are you not defending at all? Legs! We don’t tear off your legs, I say! ” - Training, Bortnikov even straightens out and as if younger for twenty years.

“Boxing is a hard sport, all the coaches say: “ We must beat stronger. ” And Bortnikov teaches to defend himself, ”Roman Kireev explains the features of the coaching approach. “His methods are safe, and the guys who do not become outstanding boxers can calmly go to any other sport, having received a good base from childhood.”

Alexey Nikolaevich instructs a student at competitions in Voronezh (2015) Photo: Kristina Brazhnikova

Bortnikov’s defense is not just a feature of the methodology, but a whole philosophy. To defend, “close” is a life skill that allows you to think, tolerate, overcome and ultimately cope with any situation.

“I watched a lot of battles, including foreign boxers. And he concluded: those who protect themselves well win. Protection helps counterattack the enemy. And I proved this conclusion by practice. Not a single boy of mine was in the knockout, not a single one carried away from the ring unconscious. I used such a tactic and will always train like that. ”

If a person learns to “close” well, he will always win a duel, Bortnikov is sure. His main battle is still ongoing.