/nginx/o/2020/07/23/13227977t1h31c8.jpg "Atvars Ozolins: The viral crisis has damaged the volleyball market – Volleyball")
Ozoliņš will represent the Baltic League team “Parnu” next season. The 21-year-old Ozoliņš spent the previous season in the third league of Italy in the “Gibam Fano” team, being a player in its main line-up.
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After 19 games, the team took eighth place in the tournament table with 25 points when the championship was terminated due to a coronavirus. If the team had finished in this place, it would have to take part in the fight to stay in the league. However, the league did not resume, and in April the volleyball player was already moving home, although he had a contract with the club until the end of May.
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In the 2018/2019 season, Ozoliņš already played “Parnu” in his first club abroad and together with it won the Estonian championship. Representatives of the Latvian national team coaching corps and staff working at the Pärnu Club – head coach Avo Kēl, Latvian national team statistician Karl Ēriks Eisenšmidts and physiotherapist Toms Zvonkovs – as well as Toms Zvonkovs, the team’s first team and captain of the national team Toms, also became Estonian champions together with Ozoliņš.
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In addition to Ozoliņš and Švana, the diagonal player Kristaps Platačs will play in the ranks of the Pärnu club, for whom it will be the second season in a row in Pärnu. Ozoliņš calls next season’s “Parnu” model a “small Latvian national team” in Estonia.
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Last season, the volleyball players of Pärnu reached the quarterfinals of the “Credit24” championship, where they acknowledged the superiority of Jēkabpils “Lūšu”. The season was then interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, preventing the Estonian championship from being played.
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Largely due to numerous injuries, Parnu did not beat the quarterfinals of the Estonian Cup in the first half of the season, but withdrew from the CEV Challenge Cup in the sixteenth final after losing two matches to Croatian volleyball players from Kastela “Mladost Ribola”.
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“The club of the previous season did not make a new offer, and considering all the options until the middle of summer, I am leaning in favor of the Pärnu club. The viral crisis has damaged the volleyball market. Everything is going slowly, it is difficult to find a new team,” LVF quotes Ozolina said.
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“There were two more options – one in the same Italian A3 league, the other – in Portugal, but they didn’t really satisfy me. I waited another two weeks, but it couldn’t last indefinitely because I wanted clarity,” says Ozolins.
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He has talked to Kēl, who has made a good offer to Ozoliņš.
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“Maybe someone thinks it’s a step back after Italy’s third league, but the offer was very sympathetic,” explains Ozolins. “The national team coach, a certain team, is not far from Latvia. I wanted a safer option and professional work.”
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The contract is for one season, which promises to be shorter than usual, as the European Volleyball Confederation (CEV) has set the national championships to end by April 15.
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Since the beginning of June, the volleyball player has been participating in the trainings of the Latvian national team. “I’m a little back in the rhythm,” says Ozoliņš about feeling well after a long break. “I was pleased that the performance of the technical elements was not affected. In the physical field, it lagged behind a bit, and microtraumas appeared.”
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He is excited about the atmosphere in the team. “I am with my family, the atmosphere and organization are good. The coaches have also taken care of new exercises. Boriss Kolčins has also entered the team with his methods,” says Ozoliņš.
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He says that there is a fighting spirit and a desire to compete first for the top 12 or 14 volleyball players, then for the starting line-up. “Everyone wants to be among the best, but we don’t try to get each other, but we help each other, we encourage,” explains the 21-year-old volleyball player, who took the opportunity last year and won a place in the main team.
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Before playing in Estonia, Ozoliņš represented the “OC Limbaži” / MSĢ unit.
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