Secrets of Coaching Success: Aigars Birzulis (Part 3)
Interview
If beach volleyball were a computer game, the players would probably be the little figures moving on the screen. However, the coach would not be the actual gamer as in volleyball, but rather the programmer who had to put in all the code ahead of the game. There is a major difference between a volleyball coach and a beach volleyball coach, and to help the fans understand it and gain more in-depth knowledge about the tireless behind-the-scenes work of those low-profile mentors in the sand from the first-hand source, in my Secrets of Coaching Success series, I also present some of Europe’s accomplished examples in the beach volleyball coaching profession and try to pick their brains for insider info about how it all gets done.
Prominent Latvian beach volleyball coach Aigars Birzulis is featured in the sixth episode of the series. His teams won plenty of medals at major international competitions at the senior, the junior and the youth levels, including a London 2012 Olympic bronze. Most recently, he steered Anastasija Kravcenoka & Tina Graudina to the women’s continental title at EuroBeachVolley 2022. Here is the full interview he gave for cev.eu.
Continued from Part 2
There has been a trend of introducing more and more team competitions like the Nations Cup, the Continental Cup, the World Beach Games 4x4, national leagues, etc. Will this trend increase the importance of the beach volleyball coach role?
“I only support that. We have to work on that more.”
Name something about the coaching profession in beach volleyball you think the general public knows little about.
“It’s hard to talk about that because there are always a lot of things, which are only within the team and some of them are just on paper. So I don’t have a lot to say about it.”
What has been the key to your coaching success so far?
“As a coach in beach volleyball for many years I think my key is try to see the opponents’ weaknesses and hide our team’s weaknesses. It’s not that simple, because everybody sees that, so you have to put lot of work into it. And you can’t forget that a player is a diamond that one has to polish all life… even if he is 95 years old.”
When coaching a beach pair, do you focus more on improving the individual skills of each player or on improving the interaction between the two? What is the main thing you try to teach your players, in general?
“I work in all ways. There is no formula. There is no right or wrong. You have to find the way that works both for the players as individuals and for the team. I think it’s not good to work from copy-paste. Every team has to have their own signature.”
Is there a coach, from beach volleyball or another sport, you look up to and follow as a role model?
“I think there are a lot of good coaches in beach volleyball and the results are showing it. For me, one of the best coaches is Jurgen Wagner. And Rasmus Jonsson has brought in completely new ways. I can say a lot of good coaches’ names, but I will stay with these two.”
How do you rest and recover outside your job?
“I like to go fishing, pick some berries and mushrooms, or just be in nature. Cranberries are the same shape as volleyballs, so they always bring me a lot of good thoughts, because no matter where I am beach volleyball is in my head and heart.”
#BeachVolleyball
