Sports federation officers meet in Newark to review activity, discuss future projects

by Dr. Orest Popovych

NEWARK, N.J. - Officers of USCAK, as it is popularly known (based on its Ukrainian-language acronym), met at the home of the Chornomorska Sitch sports club on October 1 to discuss the current status and future projects of the Ukrainian Sports Federation of the U.S.A. and Canada.

The meeting was opened by USCAK President Myron Stebelsky, who noted that the activity at USCAK, as in many other Ukrainian American organizations, has generally ebbed in recent years. However, there are some bright spots.

One success story, reported by the press officer, Omelan Twardowsky, is the USCAK swimming and tennis championships which took place at Soyuzivka over the Labor Day Weekend.

The swimming competition attracted 55 participants from four Ukrainian American clubs and youth organizations. The club title was won by the swimmers of Chornomorska Sitch. The Sitch swimmers are coached by Marika Bokalo, who is the director of swimming both at Sitch and USCAK. They have obviously benefited from their training at the Sitch Sports School, which last summer was held at Soyuzivka for the first time, said Mr. Twardowsky.

The tennis championship, run by the USCAK tennis director George Sawchak, involved 57 players. Mark Oryshkewych and Lesia Bilak won the men's and women's titles, respectively.

Chess Director Dr. Orest Popovych announced plans to hold the 2001 USCAK chess championship on October 20 in Buffalo, N.Y. It will be hosted by the Stepan Popel Chess Club at St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church, where the Rev. Marian Procyk is the pastor and club director.

Due to the death of Yaroslav Petryk, the chairman of the USCAK Auditing Committee, Vasyl Ciurpita was appointed as a new member of the committee.

Drawing inspirtion from the example of The Ukrainian Weekly, Mr. Stebelsky proposed that USCAK publish a volume of the most significant articles that appeared in print about USCAK since its founding in 1955. The idea is to provide future historians with a single source of information about organized Ukrainian sports in North America. After hearing assurances from the financial secretary, Alexander Napora, that the USCAK treasury is indeed in good shape and fully capable of financing such a publication, the project was approved unanimously.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, October 21, 2001, No. 42, Vol. LXIX

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