Department of Physical Education

History and present of the department
The date of establishment of the department is considered to be June 11, 1938, when, by a joint resolution of the committees for higher education and for physical culture and sports of the USSR, departments of physical education were established in three educational institutions located in the Holosiivskyi district of Kyiv - agricultural, forestry and veterinary. At the veterinary institute, the department of physical education was headed by Zhuravel Vasyl Makarovych, at the agricultural institute - Zaika Viktor Vasilyovich, at the forestry institute - Makarin M.M.
As a result of the merger of two of these Kyiv institutes of agriculture and forestry, the Ukrainian Agricultural Academy (UAA) was established in 1954. The Department of Physical Education of the UAA was staffed by teachers from the predecessor departments. Its staff consisted of 18 teachers and 5 service personnel. The department was headed and managed for a long time by Zaika Viktor Vasilyevich (1954-1957). After the veterinary institute joined the Ukrainian State Academy of Veterinary Medicine, the number of teachers at the department increased. The sports facilities at that time consisted of two small gymnasiums, two simple sports grounds, premises for the department and a ski base. Of course, the existing sports facilities were not enough for the several thousand students of the academy, and the department staff began to expand the sports facilities on a voluntary basis. This work was especially intensified with the appointment of Vasily Ivanovich Shibakin as head of the department (1957-1969). By 1960, a stadium with a football field and track and field sectors had been built. All the broken bricks from the educational building No. 3, which was destroyed during the heroic defense of Kyiv in 1941, were used for the drainage of the stadium. At the same time, sports grounds were built - volleyball, basketball, handball, and a ski base was also equipped. In 1965, the current sports building No. 9 with four halls (wrestling, weightlifting, gymnastics, and a games room) was put into operation. In subsequent years, true enthusiasts worked as heads of the department - Fedorenko Oleksandr Ivanovich (1969-1977), Kasyanov A.D. (1977-1978), Polyakov Mykola Dmytrovych (1978-1983), Dovgich Oleksandr Vasylovych (1983-1989), Krasnov Valery Pavlovych, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor (1989-2010), Verbytskyi Serhiy Oleksiyovych, Honored Worker of Physical Culture and Sports of Ukraine (2010-2013), Master of Sports of Ukraine of international class in Kyokushin karate, Candidate of Physical Sciences and Higher Education. Brynzak Sava Savovych (2013-2014),
Since 2014, the head of the Department of Physical Education has been Kostenko Mykola Petrovych, Master of Sports of Ukraine of international class in mini-football, champion of the World Universiade in change-football as part of the student team of Ukraine (1998), coach of the Ukrainian national team in beach soccer.

Today, it is impossible to find a single sphere of human activity that is not related to physical culture, since physical culture and sports are universally recognized material and spiritual values ​​of society as a whole and of each person individually.
In society, physical culture is an important means of "raising a new person who harmoniously combines spiritual wealth, moral purity and physical perfection." The outstanding physiologist P.K. Anokhin noted: "In the mass development of physical culture and sports, I see one of the best options in the struggle for human health, its creative activity and longevity."
Abroad, physical culture and sports at all its levels are a universal mechanism for improving people's health, a way of human self-realization, self-expression and development, as well as a means of combating asocial phenomena. That is why there is a steady trend all over the world to increase the importance of physical culture in society, which is manifested:
• in increasing the role of the state in supporting the development of physical culture, public forms of organizing activities in this area;
• in the widespread use of physical culture in the prevention of diseases and strengthening the health of the population;
• in extending the active creative longevity of people;
• in organizing leisure and preventing asocial behavior of youth;
• in using physical education as an important component of the moral, aesthetic and intellectual development of a person;
• in involving the able-bodied population in physical exercise;
• in using physical culture in the social and physical adaptation of disabled people and orphans;
• in the growing volume of sports television and radio broadcasting and the role of television in shaping a healthy lifestyle;
• in developing physical culture, health and sports infrastructure taking into account the interests and needs of the population;
• in various forms, methods and means offered on the market of physical culture, health and sports services.
Since 2020, the Department of Physical Education has acquired the status of a graduate department, expanding its activities and training higher education applicants in the educational and professional program "Physical Culture and Sports" of specialty 017 "Physical Culture and Sports".