Director of Strategic Development and Stability at UAFA, CEO "UAFA Foundation" Olena Balbek in the pre-match studio during the first round of the Superliga second Ukrainian Ampfball Championship spoke about the development of this sport in Ukraine, as well as shared plans and outlined challenges that today's "Best League" team faces.

— "Best League" went from an idea to a national project with international recognition within two years. What was your vision at the start? Did it match what we have now, and are you satisfied with the result?

— Of course, we are satisfied with the result. When we came up with "Best League," we had an idea of where we wanted to go. The result we see now exceeds our expectations. From day one, we built "Best League" as a system that would work for ten years. Our goal was not just to organize a tournament or even launch a championship. Therefore, the task is still not fully realized because we are working long-term. We want the Ukrainian Ampfball system to be strong, independent, and constantly developing.

— What plans does "Best League" have for the upcoming years? How do you want to scale and develop?

— We plan development in two key directions. The first is player recruitment. We want to help fill this activity as much as possible so that any person in Ukraine who wants to try Ampfball can learn about the project and join one of the teams. The second task is to attract supporters both online and offline. We believe that the spread of such a sport in Ukraine will be a marker of society's true adaptation, where inclusion topics are not seen as formalities but actually work.

— Most of our supporters and players are veterans, veteran women, and active military personnel. Ampfball in Ukraine is developing on a large scale precisely under the conditions of war. What challenges does "Best League" team and UAFA face while working on this project during such a difficult time?

— Of course, these are challenges related to objective reasons that any Ukrainian faces: logistics, availability of infrastructure, search for partners. At the same time, the biggest challenge is that we cannot afford to slow down on this work. Any person in the team knows that players are an example we always rely on. No matter how hard we try or get tired, we understand that players show such an example of their work, and this is the main challenge we face.