“I can’t do somersaults on a prosthesis, but I’m learning on one leg”: the story of a veteran acrobat who continues to teach children
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12 years of love for parkour and acrobatics, as well as the desire to build a teaching career of Oleksandr Chaika, were interrupted on February 24, 2022.
On that day, the man from Kyiv, along with his beloved and relatives, went to Lviv, where he went to TCC and JVso that “the state knew that I didn’t leave or run away if you need my help – I’m here“.
The man was taken to the army as a reservist. Already a month later, he was on the front line in the Donetsk region.
The acrobat learned military affairs from scratch. At the beginning of April 2022, Oleksandr lost his leg during the shelling.
After recovery, the athlete returned to his favorite job, continued to teach children – only with a prosthesis. The man told “UP. Life” about life with his “new self”.
“I paused the parkour video and watched it”
| Oleksandr Chaika in 2021. All photos and videos from Instagram |
As a child, Alexander’s favorite films were action films starring Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. He says that while watching, he was always fascinated by what was done on the screen.
“I grew up watching martial arts movies where the same Bruce Lee did incredible things, jumping over buildings and across rooftops. I didn’t know the name of all this, but I really wanted to learn how to do the same“, – recalls the acrobat.
After learning that his hobby is parkour, the 15-year-old began to “Google” it and learned by trying to repeat the movements.
“I turned on the trick video, pressed pause and watched: yes, here the boy has put his feet in the sixth position, here he is looking clearly in front of him while he jumps. At first, I memorized visually, and then went to practice“, – says Oleksandr.
The man made his first jumps in the water, then on the sand, and then on the ground.
In addition to parkour, the future gymnast practiced the martial art of karate and athletics as a child.
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“My first job is a nanny”
The 34-year-old man was born and grew up in the city of Skvira in the Kyiv region.
After school, he entered and graduated from the Faculty of Economics of the University in Pereyaslav. The second education is pedagogical in the specialty “Modern Choreography”.
“During my audit studies, I got to “Artek”, where I worked 5 shifts. I liked teaching children dance – we won more than once at competitions in the camp. After that, I realized that I want to devote my whole life to this“, – says the man.
Having obtained a second major, Oleksandr became an acrobatics coach for children aged 3 to 9 years.
He worked for him for about 12 years.
“In acrobatics, I combined choreography, martial arts and parkour to make it more interesting for children. Children over 3 years of age have a lower self-preservation instinct, so it is easier for them to learn. For adults, I sometimes help them overcome their fears as a psychologist“, – the teacher shares.
He says that he fell in love with children in his childhood, when his mother left him with two younger brothers and a sister.
“It’s funny to me, but my first job was – nurse. I stayed not only with my brother and sister, but also neighbors sometimes brought their children. The three or four of us played while the adults went on business. It turns out, it was my first income (laughs)“, – says the man.
Recently, Oleksandr pays the most attention to one child – his son.
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| Oleksandr with his wife Anna |
“I could not believe that the war had begun”
On February 24, 2022, Alexander was met at home with his girlfriend Anna at that time. After a short hesitation, the couple went to Lviv.
“IN In Lviv, I decided to enter the military register, so that the military commissariat (TCC and SP – ed.) knew that I didn’t leave anywhere, I didn’t run away. I never held a weapon in my hands, except a bow, when I worked at “Artesi“. I did not believe until the last that a great war had begun“, – says the man.
At the TCC, Oleksandr was given the position of a rigger and told that he was being drafted into the army.
Riggers, as Oleksandr later learned, are military personnel engaged in lifting and moving large loads. The man was assigned to the 24th separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
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I had to learn military affairs from scratch, says Oleksandr. He learned some of the information from his more experienced peers, and read the rest on the Internet.
“At the front, there were many people without experience, like me. It happened that we were fired upon phosphorous, and the boys stood and looked at how beautiful it was, or seeing the blood, one brother fainted every time.
It was planned that I would be in the evacuation company, and our task would be to go to the front and tow away our or the enemy’s equipment. But we were sent to Popasna at 0, where we, as part of the infantry, lured the Russian artillery fire.
I felt like I was in a movie – projectiles of various weapons, drones are flying around, and you clearly do not know what to do“, – says Oleksandr.
At the positions, he says, he needed the binoculars of an old friend, which he sent from Belgium. The army provided uniforms and helmets.
“When we were sent after Lysychansk to Popasna, we were not issued with bulletproof vests, they say there are none. Are you kidding me? Then we are not going anywhere. The guys supported me, raised a small riot, because the day before we unloaded a truckload of high-quality American body armor with side plates, collars and shoulder pads.
If it wasn’t for this bulletproof vest, I probably wouldn’t have survived“, – adds the man.
“The doctors gave 20% that I would survive”
On April 6, 2022, during another artillery barrage, a tank fired at the positions where Oleksandr was. The man was in the trench at that moment.
The projectile went through the ground perpendicular to the trench – Oleksandr was thrown to the other side of the trench and covered with earth. Only the man’s head was visible on the surface.
A comrade who was nearby was concussed, a fragment hit his knee. The brothers began to echo each other, realizing that both were alive.
“Then I had time to say goodbye, the thought flashed through my mind: “Is this really all, this is the end?”. However, then I realized that I did not lose consciousness, although I did not feel my body.” – said Oleksandr on the social network.
The wounded comrade went to the nearest Ukrainian positions and called for help.
Oleksandr was excavated for about 40 minutes. After getting out of the ground, the man felt wounds on his buttocks and right leg.
During the next day, the military was evacuated first to Popasna, then to Lysychansk, and then to Dnipro.
“Due to the fact that so much time was lost, the Dnipro doctors gave 20% that I would survive.” – says the man.
Doctors tried to save the right limb in Lysychansk, and the man was taken to the hospital in Dnipro with it.
“While we were driving, I periodically lost consciousness due to terrible pain, no one gave me painkillers. There were soldiers with me, I begged them, if they had weapons, to shoot me.
One friend took my hand and started stroking it, the other boy put my head in his lap and stroked my hair. Eventually, I calmed down and fell asleep. He woke up already in the intensive care unit, began to examine the body and realized that there was no leg. Various acrobatic tricks flashed before my eyes“, – says Oleksandr.
After a month in Dnipro, the man was transferred to Vinnytsia. Bleeding started during transportation, he spent 2 months in the intensive care unit.
Alexander gradually got better, the doctors allowed him to sit down and stand up. He underwent rehabilitation in Nemyrov, Vinnytsia region.
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| The war divided life into “before” and “after”, says Odeksander |
On September 27, the wounded soldier was taken to America for prosthetics.
“I stood on my two feet when they said that the cart was shining”
In 6 weeks in Washington, Alexander was first fitted with a temporary prosthesis. The man recalls that the doctors were surprised by how confidently he behaved on one leg with crutches.
Physical exercises during rehabilitation helped to achieve this, says the soldier.
In the first week of his stay in the USA, Oleksandr took the first steps on the prosthesis.
“I am a high amputee and do not have a stump (the part of the limb that remains after the amputation), so I was fitted with a lumbar prosthesis. Its peculiarity is that it is necessary while walking “throw out“ pelvis forward.
In Ukraine, they repeatedly said that only a wheelchair lights up for me, so when I first got on “your“ two – cthere were incredible feelings“, – says the man.
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Today, Oleksandr has a computerized prosthesis, which he adjusts over the phone. My husband charges it once a week. The artificial leg is put on in 30 seconds.
“I surf not on my feet, but on my head”
Shortly after returning from America, Alexander returned to civilian life – his husband was dismissed from the army, he got married, became a father and opened his first own sports studio, and later – the second.
Among his students are almost a hundred children.
“Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday I teach in one studio, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday – in another 6 hours. There were thoughts of returning to the army, but I realized that I should not play with fate – if life gave me a second chance, then I need to use it to the full“says the man.
For his own studio, which is called “Kub”, Oleksandr independently creates a website, since he started studying programming in parallel with his work.
“I spent all the combat money on studio equipment. Nowadays, there is enough for all the most necessary things, and travel – it is difficult for me to travel in public transport, because it is almost not adapted for people with disabilities, so I take a taxi“, the man says.
Oleksandr calls the prosthesis a burden, as it does not help at all in work. The limb weighs more than 10 kg, it is difficult to kneel or, for example, sit down with it.
However, it always works with him.
“Already after the third lesson, I didn’t even notice how I was sitting on my knees or bending somewhere. Before, in principle, I couldn’t do it.
Some students call me “iron man” or semi-robot. Sometimes children say something or write about me at school, that they have such a coach. My parents told me about it. In the first days, the little one approached, touched, asked if it hurt. I always answer that no, but there are nuances.” – says the coach.
Oleksandr plans to return to what started his path – parkour. In addition, the man is looking for new hobbies.
“I plan to jump on one leg, now I’m strengthening my left leg. Already jumped into the water like that. I still have a new hobby – it’s surfing. I don’t have a prosthesis to swim with, but I surf on my knees or feet, holding the board with my hands, or on my head“, says the teacher.
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| “All frameworks and limitations are only in our heads,” the man commented on the photo |
“When they see a prosthesis, they turn away”
For his students, Oleksandr is a hero or, without exaggeration, an “iron man”. The youngest sometimes approach, touch the prosthesis, ask questions, says the teacher.
On the street, the man is used to different views.
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| After being discharged from the army, Oleksandr returns to his usual life in a new status |
“I I periodically remove the prosthesis, because it hurts, and my body feels like it “asks“ take a break from it. And once in Kyiv I went down to the subway without a prosthesis. And when they entered the carriage, the people all saw me, but turned their heads away with such a look as if another beggar came in.
Other times, it happened that I could get to know someone, exchange social networks or contacts, it happened that small talk turned into a 2-hour conversation.” – adds Oleksandr.
Anastasia Poya, “Ukrainian Pravda. Life“
Read also: “Wants to play basketball”: in Lviv, doctors realize the dream of a teacher who lost his wrist in the war. PHOTO
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