TASS, Russia’s largest news agency (which is owned by the Russian government), recently reported on a huge honor Alex Ovechkin will be receiving in his hometown.

A hockey academy named after Ovechkin entitled “Alexander Ovechkin’s professional hockey academy” is to be built in Moscow on the Mnevnikovskaya Floodplain. Ovechkin’s hockey school will be a part of a large sporting complex that includes an ice arena named after Olympic gold medalist Tatiana Navka. Navka is married to Dmitry Peskov, the press spokesman for Vladimir Putin.

“One of the largest sports clusters in Moscow will appear on the territory of the Mnevnikovskaya Floodplain,” Andrey Bochkarev, Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Urban Development Policy and Construction, said to TASS according to Google Translate. “In total, more than 500 thousand square meters of sports facilities for various purposes are planned to be built here.”

Within the sports park, two large arenas — a rugby stadium and a multifunctional sports center — will be built as well as a large surfing park, water sports center with deep-sea pool, curling center, extreme sports center, skate park, trampoline center, sports school, and early physical development center. Outdoor sports will include volleyball, basketball, tennis, and other beach sports.

The man-made island was created in the late 1930s, but only recently has been focused for development. The floodplain is located in a bend of the Moskva River and near Red Square.

Headline photo: Cara Bahniuk/RMNB