It has been 26 years since we could say for the last time that the Latvian men’s volleyball team is preparing for the final tournament of the European Championship. While there is a summer glow outside the window, volleyball players have been working hard in the weight room for the second week in a row to be physically ready for the upcoming tournament in September. This is the second camp for the national unit this summer, and this time the team has very serious additional forces.
The Latvian national team started preparing for the final tournament of the European Championship with 23 players, working in two groups on a daily basis. For volleyball players, this is not the first meeting this year – the team at the end of May and the beginning of June already played in the European Gold League tournament, testing younger players and the national team’s closest reserves, which have so far been less common. The head coach of the Latvian national team Avo Kēls told Latvijas Radio that the first trainings with balls will start next week, but at the beginning of August the first three test matches are planned in preparation for the championship.
Latvian volleyball players are preparing for the final tournament of the European ChampionshipMaris Bergs
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“Now the first two weeks will start with the balls, in those trainings we will work a lot to promote the feeling of the ball and a lot of touches to the ball. Let’s also start jumping,” Kehl introduced the training plan. “In the third week we will start working with the bombs at six, but in August we will have it [sastāvā] 16 or 17 people. During these three weeks, we coaches must make the choice of who will stay, who will go home. All the guys have worked hard for a long time, but, well, do nothing. After that, we will have test games in August. “
In the Golden League tournament at the beginning of the summer, the Latvian national team had two very important gaps – the experienced lifter Deniss Petrovs and the diagonal player Hermans Egleskalns were not included.
After a long season at the club, the headquarters of the coaches of the national team gave the rest so that the volleyball players could recover both physically and psychologically. Now both experienced players are in the national team camp in preparation for the championship, and they will be the two leaders of the national team.
In a conversation with Latvijas Radio, Egleskalns said that he and other players could not wait for the work with the balls to start, but there is no reason to complain about physical fitness training either.
“It is very good that I took my free time and now I can get involved in sample work for 100 percent,” Egleskalns explained. “We started this [treniņu] phase quite calmly, do not rush too much, and this is also important, especially for players who are older and more experienced. From time to time we go to the gym and bump into couples, but we have to wait for the moment when we start working in the volleyball hall next week. “
Atvars Ozoliņš has become one of the leaders of the national team during the last couple of seasons, who was one of the main driving forces in the qualification tournament last August and also played in the Golden League.
For Ozoliņš, like all Latvian national team players, the upcoming tournament will be the first European Championship in his career. Although no one needs additional motivation to prepare for the first European Championship final tournament in 26 years, Ozoliņš still points out that joining the experienced volleyball team is only good for him.
“You feel that experienced jackets are sitting next to you, and you can joke, but when you have to do the work, do it properly,” said Ozoliņš. “I personally like it very much and it just motivates.”
The Latvian national team will gradually start working with bombs next week, while continuing to work in physical fitness.
It is planned that by the end of the month all 23 players will continue to work, but at the end of July the coaches will sift the first line-up, reducing the number of volleyball players in the national team.
Latvia will start the final tournament of the European Championship on September 1, when a meeting with the neighboring country Estonia is planned for the Baltic derby in Tallinn, which has been a very hard nut to crack for Latvian volleyball players in recent years.
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