Exclusive basketball training in Simne with Olympic and world champion Valdemar Chomičius

Basketball balls bounced in the gymnasium of the Simnos gymnasium. Children enthusiastically learned the subtleties of basketball. The public institution “Krepšinios broliai”, implementing a project financed by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports, organizes free training sessions for the children of Simno. One of the initiators of the project was Rokas Grėbliūnas, a basketball player from Simniška.

According to R. Grėbliūnas, the goal of the project is to organize basketball training for children in the regions of Lithuania and create opportunities for young people from small towns to play in national competitions. “Training takes place in five Lithuanian municipalities, one of them in Alytus district, in Simne. We feel the children’s interest and desire to play basketball. The training has been going on for 5 months, the children are divided into two groups according to their age,” says R. Grėbliūnas, who himself played basketball professionally, and is now seeking a professional coaching diploma.

Training with an Olympic and World Champion

VšĮ “Krepšinio broliai” surprised the children of Simnos by inviting Olympic and world champion Valdemar Chomičius to training. The children not only learned the subtleties of basketball from a professional, but also learned the history of basketball. Pijus, who is training, said that he knows V. Chomičius and hopes to achieve the same good results as him in the future. And the interviewed Gabriele noted that V. Chomičius is unheard of for her, but a demanding coach, and the training sessions conducted by him are interesting. 5-year-old Aras was holding a big basketball in his hands, when asked if he would be an athlete, he nodded his head affirming that he would definitely be a basketball player.

During training in Simno, the Olympic and world champion noted that training the youth of Simno was a special celebration for him. “I spent my childhood in the Simno region, my grandparents lived here, my father attended the Simno school,” said V. Chomičius. He is happy that the children of the region have the opportunity to play sports. According to the basketball legend, physical ability and ball handling technique are important in this sport. At the end of the training, the chant “Mes za Lithuania!” was heard in Simne. and the hands of the children standing in a circle went up. Basketball legend V. Chomičius wished the children to love basketball, live it and be in the basketball community.

“Basketball Brothers”

“It’s fun and good to return to Simna. We want the children to have activities and employment, and of course we also want to contribute to that,” says the project organizer R. Grėbliūnas. VšĮ “Krepšinio broliai” in 2017 was founded by brothers Lukas and Rokas Grėbliūnas from Simniška. “When we studied at the Simno school, we felt that we lacked basketball training. We didn’t have them, there was only a circle. Therefore, my brother and I decided to take the initiative and found “Krepšinios brolius”, says Rokas, who, while studying law at Vytautas the Great University, joined the university’s basketball team, which he defended for 5 years. He played in the student league, the third Lithuanian league, and the highest step in his career was joining the legendary Kaunas “Atleto” basketball team. “My brother and I watched the development of basketball in Simne. We have seen that children’s physical activity is decreasing. We knew that football and volleyball are popular in Simne, but there were also people who wanted to play basketball,” continued the interviewer, who is pursuing a professional coaching education at Vytautas the Great University. Rokas is happy that the activities of their project coincided with the “Day with a legend” project of the Lithuanian Basketball Federation. “We knew that Valdemar’s relatives came from Simnos, so we decided to invite him to motivate the children to play sports and be interested in basketball,” says R. Grėbliūnas.

The sports project of VšĮ “Krepšinio broliai” covers 5 municipalities of the country. Training for children takes place in Simna, Igliauka, Alytus, Šeštokai and Vilnius. Physical education teacher Vaidas Jasevičius trains the children in Simna and Šeštokai, R. Grėbliūnas is the project organizer in Igliauka and Vilnius, he is replaced by Karolis Kuliūnas, and Kęstutis Čerkauskas teaches the children the subtleties of basketball in Alytus.

We hope that the aspiration of the project organizers, that children from small towns can also participate in competitions and tournaments and compete with children who play sports in big cities, who may have better conditions for sports, will come true.