2024-04-28 00:10:54
“Livonia” will start with two teams – “BalticXL/Livonia” and “Garkalne/Livonia” in the classical rugby championship of Latvia, in which we will mostly see young “Livonians”, young rugby players of “Mītava” (Mītava Rugby Club) and partner “Baltrex” (“Baltrex -Šiauliai“) duplicates. More attention will also be paid to young people and the women’s team, whose leadership is entrusted to Elmārs Šefanovskis.
Considering the number of teams and the number of competitions, the management of “Livonia” has done a great job, providing all the necessary good training conditions.
“Livonia” U-16 youth have already started the season, but this weekend the U-18 teams, the ladies’ team and “Garkalne/Livonia” will participate in the battles. The first stage of the Latvian U-18 and women’s rugby-7 will take place at the RTK stadium, while in Brenguli, “Garkalne/Livonia” will start the season with a match against “Fēniks” (Fēniks Rugby Club).
“Livonia” head coach Mārcis Rullis: “This year we will start with two teams. The second team will be made up of our young players – “Mītava” young players, “Baltrex backups, maybe one of the experienced rugby players will also return. We want to provide everyone with playing time – so that everyone gets to play. Yes, it is a big challenge, but we believe that we will cope with it.”
“This year there will be no division in the main team, as there was last year. The young rugby players who entered last season will already be in the main team this year, but there will be a lot of young people in the second team. Last year, 4-5 young players “turned around” in our big team, but now I see 5-8 more young players in training, in whom I see potential. During the season, about ten young players could go through big rugby,” says Rullis.
“This year we changed the training processes. We started in January, then at the end of January there was athletics, slowly we also played rugby. For now, we have practiced more for the sevens, but everything will be fine. The goal, of course, is to regain the Latvian championship board. The main thing for the second team is to fight for the semi-finals,” the head coach outlines the goals of the season.
“Livonia” rugby-7 team coach Edmunds Ščavinskis: “Thank you to the “Livonia” family for the good welcome and the opportunity to return to the team. I see that the sevens team is disciplined, motivated, wants to win the title in the sevens. 14 players show themselves well in each training session. We have two good potential leaders in Gleb Sosnar and Ruslan Vorobyov, who will probably also be in the big team in classic rugby. Competitors? It’s hard to say, but most likely they will be “Miesnieki” and “Baldone”, also “Eži”. Last year we were only third, and this year we have to change that.”
The head coach of the “Livonia” women’s team, Elmārs Šefanovskis: “When I was invited to join the coaching team, at first I thought about what I could give to the team as a coach. I accepted it as a good challenge, because I haven’t trained ladies yet, so far only young people and men. The coach has a lot of experience, about 10 years already. But a good challenge and I will try to prove myself in this new role. The biggest challenge is to promote girls’ understanding of rugby sevens,” explains Šafanovskis.
“As far as we can see, the game of rugby is there, but the game of rugby-7 itself is still far from optimal. I want to give a vision for this rugby-7. The first impression is good, but we want to create the “chemistry” of the team so that everyone knows what to do on the field. In Latvia, we would like a faster growth in women’s rugby, but the level is high enough, taking into account the number of employees. The direction is the right one, only the process is going slowly and it could be smoother, there could be more involvement from other clubs,” the coach assesses.
Manager of the women’s team and youth system, Evija Kralliš: “The missing piece of the puzzle has been found in the women’s team – the coach is now Elmārs Šefanovskis. For now, the team is not in the best shape yet, but we are moving in the right direction. In the winter, we saw that on paper we have many girls, but still several of them still have consequences from last season and need to heal their injuries. After a few days of the first competition, we look good and hope that everything will be fine.”
“If we talk about young people, then we have developed several groups in Ropaži district (Ulbrok, Upesciem), and in Sigulda district we have passed the licensing of interest education. Development is happening, we are growing and expanding. We had several young players who went abroad to gain experience. This year, we fielded two teams in the U-16 championship, which have already started, and there will also be two U-18 teams (“Livonia Rīga” and “Livonia Engure”). I hope that in the second part of the season the Sigulda district team will also join us,” said Kralliša.
2024-04-28 00:10:54