“Bertain Brothers Master Class” | Photo: Jānis Lārmanis
Today, on July 7, the annual “Brothers Bertān Masterclass” has ended. The camp, which was already the fourth in a row and lasted five days, gathered more than 110 young basketball players from all over Latvia in the Valmiera Olympic Center.
During the master class, young people learned from the brothers Dāvja and Daira Bertānis, as well as from other experts of this sport. Latvian men’s basketball team coach Luka Banki, coach Mārtiņš Martinsons, legendary domestic coach Ainars Bagatskis and Latvian ice hockey team captain Kaspars Daugaviņš came to the camp as guest speakers. Brothers and basketball grandmasters were present all five days, while the guest speaker changed each day.
During the entire camp, coaches Oskars Virsis and Kaspars Vecvagars of the Latvian top division club “Valmiera Glass/Vidzemes Augstskola” were also involved in the coaching work. They were also helped by local coaches from the Bertānu Valmiera basketball school.
Throughout the week, the young aspirants honed their individual skills, team play, and physical training. Coaches Inga Dzene and Ilze Ādamsone took care of the latter. At the end of the camp, the participants divided into four teams to play both with and against the Bertans brothers. There were also competitions in which dozens of prizes related to the attributes of the Bertan brothers were handed out. This was also the first “Brothers Bertāns Master Class”, where the first graduates of the Bertāns Valmiera basketball school were solemnly welcomed. There were 13 of them in total – four girls and nine boys.
For the first time in four years, there were also foreigners among the camp participants. Albin and Joel came to Valmiera from Sweden, who were both very happy about the camp, saying that they would like to come back next year. “We feel great because we have gained experience from all this. Davis and Dairi are professionals. We learned the most about passes and shooting. We are glad that we decided to come here from Sweden. We have learned a lot,” Albin and Joel added to each other.
The opening of the master class was also attended by the chairman of the Valmiera County Council, Jānis Baiks, and the local media. On one of the days, the camp was also attended by the extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of Georgia to Latvia Irakli Kulashvili and his advisor Mikel Sulaberidze. The master class was created in cooperation with Bertāns Valmiera Basketball School, Valmiera City Municipality, Baltic Sports Agency, Sportland and Spalding.
