Young athlete from Ukraine impresses Essex teachers after move

Basketball is Arsenii's favourite sport, he says

A 15-year-old who arrived from Ukraine last year has been described as "something special" by his teachers.

Arsenii Handzii had never tried athletics before joining his new school in Essex but came sixth in the National Pentathlon last month.

He said sport had helped him settle into his new life in England.

"If I can push myself more I can have higher and higher achievements," he added.

Before he and his family moved to the UK because of the war in Ukraine, he had no experience in athletics.

"The biggest difference is we don't do athletics in Ukraine at all... we do basketball and football but not athletics," he said.

He joined Chelmsford Athletics Club before being selected to represent Essex schools in high jump at the National English Schools Athletics Championship.

Paul Copsey director of sport at the school says the teachers quickly knew they had "something special on our hands"

Paul Copsey, director of sport at the school, said he noticed his talent while playing basketball.

"He came in from the wing and dunked in and everyone stopped... We knew we had something special on our hands when he did that.

"We could see how tall he was, and how athletic he was, how fluid he was, how co-ordinated he was with a ball in his hand and a real-asset to the basketball team, we managed to win the borough basketball in Year 9 for the first time in the school's history."

Mr Copsey says sport has helped the young athlete understand English better and settle in to life in the UK.

"Really credit to him that he's managed to focus on something that has been really positive for him as well, it's helped his understanding of the language as well just being around boys and the staff as well.

"He works really hard... he does it with a big smile on his face and he's a joy to have in the department." he said.