Last Friday, the season of the Regional Basketball League (RBL) ended with the victory of the “Sigulda/Modern house” basketball club. In the final, the people of Sigulda beat the Salaspils sports school team 3:0 (89:74, 82:76, 95:75), although the winners were announced only in the last game, well before the final siren. It should also be noted that during the entire season, Sigulda basketball players experienced only one loss in 24 games.
Even though someone might say that the Regional League is “only” the third in Latvia in terms of rank, in the context of Pierīgas districts, such a duel in the final of a tournament is quite unusual, so it is an interesting phenomenon (it is significant that on April 15, “Arena Rīga” won the bronze medal of the Latvian Premier League floorball players from Ulbrok and Ķekava will compete for medals). This season, the basketball players of BK “Ādaži/Carnikava”, Mārupe and Babīte also participated in the RBL.
The playing coach of the “Sigulda/Modern house” basketball club Kārlis Vechens and the head coach of the Salaspils sports school team Valdis Razumovskis answer questions about the finals and the season as a whole.
What decided the fate of the RBL final series?
K.V. Character. Towards the end of spring, basketball was too much for everyone, and they wanted to finish the season sooner. I would like to say that we were also better in terms of craftsmanship. We definitely did not expect Salaspilians in the final. But overall, everything went as it should have. We realized sometime in the middle of the season that we can fight for the highest places this season. As we discussed with each other before, in order to win the championship title, you have to lose one game, and that happened to us in the semi-final against “Jaunpili”.
V.R. Sigulda has a very well-rounded team, and during the season it strengthened with two more good basketball players. All the “small” players have LBL2 and even LBL1 experience, but we had to put brand new guys in defense against them. In the semi-finals, they coped with their tasks, but it was difficult in the final. We couldn’t deal with (the most valuable player of the final series) Tomas Čēdi (he scored 30 points each in the second and third games – aut.).
Before the season, we set ourselves the goal of fighting for a place in the second league of Latvia, or the National League. Salaspils really needs this, because the most talented local young guys are already looking in the direction of the Riga teams, but we definitely don’t want to lose them. In the middle of the season, it seemed that we had set this bar too high, but gradually we played, and in the “play off” tournament there was already a completely different team. Both RBL finalists are offered the opportunity to play in the NBL next season, thus achieving the goal.
What were your team’s trump cards last season?
K.V. Unity, during the whole season we were all one, we rose and fell together.
V.R. I would like to say – like the madness of youth. It’s hard to find a team that, like us in the last finals game, grabs 20 more rebounds than their opponents, despite losing by 20 points. During the season, there were about five games when we managed to win by almost 20 points. With fighting spirit and not giving up, we were able to break more than one opponent.
What training and game regime did you work in?
K.V. We saw each other twice a week – once a week we got together for training plus one game. All of us are from Sigulda, except for three players. About half are students of the Sigulda Sports School. The playing time for them may not be very big yet, but they take part in training regularly.
V.R. Almost everyone in the team has a connection with Salaspili. There are many students of the sports school, many of them have roots in Salaspils. For example, Reno Silavs and Jānis Lasmanis grew up in the same district of Salaspils, played ball together as children, but now live elsewhere. We started preparing already in August with physical training, later there were two training sessions plus one game a week. Together with other coaches, we tried to design the work in such a way that the guys realize what professional basketball is like. Before each match, video material was prepared about the opponents, their strengths and weaknesses. We filmed and analyzed all our games. The guys appreciated it a lot, and maybe that’s why they managed to improve their game during the season.
From the overcrowded stands in the final games, it can be concluded that the popularity of basketball in Sigulda and Salaspils is on a high.
K.V. Yes, it was unexpected and very pleasant. In the last final game, there were 550-600 spectators in the hall. All season people came to the games, but the last match was wow! I didn’t even know that so many people support basketball in Sigulda.
V.R. This was the first year when we played in the Salaspils sports house – until then in the small sports school hall and we didn’t advertise our games too much. This season, we especially thought about making it interesting for the audience – shows, competitions. As far as the internet allowed, we made live broadcasts of the games on our “youtube” channel (it’s a pity that we didn’t manage to broadcast the last final game from Sigulda). I am not afraid to say that we are now the number one sports team in Salaspils according to the number of spectators and popularity.
There were many children and young people among the fans.
K.V. There were so many kids that I can’t say for sure if they are already practicing basketball or maybe not yet. Maybe their friends. But getting them interested was one of our goals this season. Basically, the purpose of the existence of the big team is for young people to have something to look at and something to aspire to. So that they want to be in this team after five or six years.
V.R. Before the season, one of the settings was for the children to come and watch the games. During the game week, we actively invited them both during training and through social networks. It is important that those who later want to play in this team themselves come to the hall. It seems we succeeded. I started coaching the first grade this year, we haven’t even really played basketball, but before practice the boys divide themselves into teams and play. Huge satisfaction for what the great team has given to Salaspils.
How do you see the immediate future of the team?
K.V. Let’s all get together – players, club management – and talk about what our goals are. Shall we go one level up and qualify for the National League, or not. Of course, a lot of things get in the way of finances – will we be able to convince local entrepreneurs to support us and get the necessary funds. But this season we played in the league, keeping in mind the goal of getting higher.
V.R. I have already mentioned the National League. Let’s sit at the table and decide what we still need to be able to start successfully. We have already started negotiations with LBL director Kristaps Janičenoks on these issues. I think that in terms of organization, we are already ahead of a large number of clubs in the second league. The main thing is that young basketball players have the opportunity to play and develop here.
