The grounds to it are numerous. The labor of leadership looks easy to a stranger – but what a nerve-, time- and effort-consuming work it really is… One can only guess. That was not the single occasion when such emotions broke the surface, but… He is AKOLZIN, and he continues to struggle his “baby” – PODVIG – through all the troubles and hotspots of life.

    The rock-climbers have a saying: “It is important not only to get to the peak, but also to stay on the peak”. There are a lot of examples of people creating something new – be it a kids’ club, a drama circle, a farm – but there are a lot fewer examples to people keeping their enterprises safe and sound for years. Especially if the goal is not money-making – a thing the society seems to be crazy about now.

    Where did this iron man come from? Vladislav was born in the village of Adygakh, Susuman district , in 1947 – soon after the Second World War. He was the eldest of four children. Post-war life was hard, but even in those harsh times little Vladislav found time to have fun – he went fishing with his friends, hiked the mountains, and sledded down the snow-covered hills. Being the eldest had its duties – he helped his parents a great deal: he gathered berries and helped his father to cradle.

    The childhood passed quickly – having finished eight grades of school, Vladislav graduated from a trade school in Magadan and got a vocation of a motor mechanic, and then – a polytechnical school and Magadan branch of Khabarovsk Polytechnic Institute with a major in “Motor vehicles and fleet” as a qualified mechanical engineer. Vladislav was drafted for three years – he was an all-terrain-vehicle driver in Missile Forces in Chukotka region. After the service he got a job at “Northeastern Gold” motor transport expeditionary works – he grew to like this business a lot (Vladislav even lived nearby – in one of the bunk houses at an adjacent street). Vladislav worked there from 1965 till 1989, having advanced from a simple motor mechanic to a driver, then to an engineer, and then to assistant director.

    Being an active natural-born leader, Vladislav was repeatedly elected to City and Regional People’s Deputies’ Council where he took charge of the youth affairs department. He still is a deputy in Magadan State Duma. In the Soviet times, Vladislav Akolzin was also in charge of a block youth affairs section. This section cooperated with the city police department and took charge over problem children with a youth inspectorate record. For a number of years Vladislav Akolzin was a commissar and chief of a problem children summer camp.

    In 1978 he created Military, Sporting and Technical Club PODVIG. PODVIG first functioned as an extra-curriculum all-year establishment for problem children. For the first twelve years Vladislav administered the club as a volunteer, in his free time. Later on PODVIG became not only his main work, but the way of life.

    By the way, one of the first PODVIG cadets was Vladislav’s 8-year-old son Vadim. Vadim grew up alongside his father, and for all these years he was his father’s first assistant. Vladislav’s daughter Elena helped her father too: she used to dance on celebrations with her dance company “Variation”.

    One of Vladislav Akolzin’s favorite sayings – the one he tells the cadets over and over – is: “The one who wants to achieve something looks for an opportunity, the one who doesn’t – looks for an excuse”. His Lt. Colonel’s uniform and insignia suit him well – he obtained a rank this high for active participation in preparation of the teenagers for further military service. He is a man of action, and the principle he uses in teaching the boys is “Do as I do”, but not “Do as I say”. It’s both easy and hard to be around him – easy because he is very reliable, and hard because he is exigent to himself and everybody else. There is no lame excuse as “lunch”, “vacation”, “sickness”, “a break” for him – activity is his priority. That’s why he sometimes has to give an example to the cadets by clearing away the snow, skydiving (Vladislav has done 118 parachute jumps), night hikes and working in the field. From time to time, when he hears a praise like “Years don’t affect you a single bit” he laughs the matter off: “Old age won’t get me – I don’t have time to age”.

    They say there are no irreplaceable people. This is really wrong – such people do exist. The thing is there are people and People – with a capital “P”. There is a lot to be told about Vladislav Akolzin – he and his exciting life story are a perfect subject for an article (or several). It is said that not everybody has a fate. Vladislav Akolzin has one for sure. He is of that rare kind of people, thanks to whom this planet keeps spinning.

REPORTER: - Aren’t you tired of all that? It’s way easier to stand by and run on idle, isn’t it?
AKOLZIN: - Honestly? Yes, I am tired. Sometimes I catch myself on thinking this cowardly thought – why don’t I just give up? But then I see the eyes of my boys – of those who have already grown up, and of those who sit in front of me now – Vlad ASMUS, Anatoli KARNAUKHOV, Sergei KOSTUKOV, Artur POPOVICHENKO, Igor DANILOV, Konstantin MENSHIKOV, Andrei MOZALEVSKIY and many, many others… I look into these eyes and understand that I can’t. If I let it go – it won’t be the same Akolzin anymore.