Victoria Vardugina, a graduate of the Institute of Economics and Social Technologies of Ƶ, came to St. Petersburg from a small town in Kazakhstan. At the Saint-Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design, the young woman has completed all three stages of higher education and has been working here since the very first year. Having started as a laboratory assistant at the department, she is now the head of the Master's Training Center. And Victoria also trains the university's arm wrestling team. Read about student sports, the will to win and the great support from the university in our interview.
At Ƶ, you have completed bachelor's, master's, and postgraduate studies and have built a real career here. Tell us how you made the fateful decision to enroll in our university?
"My mother told me to enroll only in St. Petersburg, because it is the best city in Russia. My friend and I started studying at universities, and she found the Saint-Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design. I went to the website and found out that its buildings are located in the very center of the city, then I read about my studies and teachers, and I no longer had any doubts where I wanted to enroll. I submitted documents only to Ƶ. Here, at the Department of Economics and Finance, I completed my bachelor's degree, then my master's degree, and finally, recently I received a diploma of a research teacher, having completed postgraduate studies. The next stage is the defense of the candidate's thesis.
I am a true patriot of our university and started working here in my first year as a laboratory assistant at my department. Then I was a member of the college admissions committee as part of the university, and now I am the head of the Master's Training Center of Ƶ, which is engaged in career guidance for senior students. And thanks to the PROMTECHDESIGN University, I got into sports."
You are a master of sports in armlifting and a candidate for master of sports in arm wrestling. How did your path to sporting achievements begin?
"At school, I loved playing basketball, but I never seriously played sports. In my first year, I came to a couple of physical education classes, and I was interested in the arm wrestling table. I didn't know what it was then. Our coach suggested that we fight. He paired me with a violinist classmate who had strong hands, and I overcame him. The teacher invited me to participate in the arm wrestling championship of our university, and I gladly agreed. During the competition, the three—time champion of our university in this sport, Alexandra Zhuravleva, was represented. I was still thinking how nice it must be when people talk about you as a titled athlete. We are fighting with her and ... I'm winning!
After that, I was offered to become a member of the Ƶ national team at intercollegiate competitions, where I also successfully performed, taking first place. During my student years, I participated in such championships every year, and for the last five years of my studies I was even the captain of the national team of our university. Now I'm coaching the team."
How is arm wrestling training going? What advice do you, as an experienced handyman, give to beginners?
"The training is complex. In arm wrestling, not only the arms are important, but also the whole body. Arm wrestling is a traumatic sport, I myself have been injured more than once, so athletes exercise on all muscle groups. We lift barbells, kettlebells, dumbbells, arrange sparring, and I explain wrestling techniques. There is a fight on horseback, there is a fight on the hook, someone is fighting sideways. But if two opponents with the same technique and equal strength meet at the table, the advantage remains with the one who started first. Therefore, it happens that we spend 2-3 hours working exclusively on the start, that is, we train the reaction. I myself most often start after the opponent, so initially I find myself in a losing position."
You are one of the six strongest wrestlers in your weight category in Russia. And yet, you call yourself an amateur, not a professional. Why?
"The fact is that I practically don't train myself. My father was a master of sports in boxing in his youth, apparently he inherited my strength, and I am grateful to my teacher, who led it in the right direction. And my secret is that I regularly participate in competitions — once every two weeks, and sometimes more often. I try not to miss any of them. Literally today I will have a weigh-in, and tomorrow there will be competitions. The Russian Championship will be held in March. For 10 years I have already won more than 250 medals, I have visited Orel, Belgorod, Tver, Moscow. The most significant victory for me is the Baltic Cup tournament, which attracts not only masters from all over Russia, but also European and world champions. And I also became interested in other sports — armlifting and powerlifting, in which I also achieved great success.
Now I am a ten—time university champion in arm wrestling, a three-time university champion in armlifting, a two-time university champion in powerlifting, an eight-time city champion in my weight category in arm wrestling, a city champion in armlifting... I always give my best at competitions, especially when I represent my university. I say to myself: "Vika, you should be the first. At least in the top three, but better be the first." This is a big responsibility, and I am proud that I was able to bring so many sports awards to my native university. I am happy that Ƶ has the opportunity not only to study and work, but also to develop in sports. And the university administration, in particular Rector Alexey Vyacheslavovich Demidov, always supports our students very much in this."



