Two former elite athletes reflect on Team Latvia’s return to EuroVolley

With a population of only 1.8 million, Latvia has slowly but surely cemented its status of real Beach Volleyball powerhouse. This process started many years ago, and more specifically in 2009, when Inguna Minusa and her partner Inese Jursone crowned themselves European champions in Sochi. That triumph broke new ground for Beach Volleyball in the Baltic country – and Minusa is still playing a leading role for the sport in Latvia, now as an assistant coach of the women’s national team that is competing at EuroVolley for the first time since 1997. Latvia’s coaching staff in Istanbul also includes Edvarts Buivids, who retired from the sport in early 2023 due to injury and represented Latvia at EuroVolley Men in 2021. 

Latvia’s return to the EuroVolley Women stage for the first time in almost 30 years has been a process in the making for a long time. Inguna Minusa has played a truly instrumental role in this – helping coach many young players ever since she stopped competing herself. She and Buivids help execute the programme designed by head coach Daniele Capriotti, which is essentially based on a network of sports schools spread across the country. While Inguna works primarily with players aged 17 to 22, Edvarts is coaching younger ones in their high-school years. They both share Capriotti’s vision to grow the game in Latvia. 

“When it comes to training and competition, we do expect our players to be focussed 100% on the sport and total commitment from their side,” they say. “At the same time, we also stress the importance of making time and space for other activities and interests, for family and friends, so that there is a substantial balance in their lives.” 

This is especially important – as they know from their own experience – for when the time eventually comes to stop playing. “There were various circumstances around my decision in early 2023 to conclude my competitive career, mostly due to injuries, since I had to come to terms with the fact that my body did not sustain that physical strain anymore. However, what followed was a very difficult time for me, with highs and lows, as you suddenly stop being associated with the sport and you lose the label of professional Volleyball player,” Edvarts admits. At this stage of his life, still looking for ways to define what his ‘second life’ would look like, he started following coaches courses and eventually crossed paths also with Capriotti. 

While Inguna has been involved with the women’s national team programme for many years and she currently does a lot of scouting, 2026 coincided with the first summer spent by Edvarts with the group. The staff has grown to some eight members and the roles are well-defined by Capriotti. “What has changed since Daniele’s arrival in Latvia is the mindset,” Minusa stresses. “It is not so much about technical or tactical skills, but more about the overall approach to the game. He has raised the bar and we have worked for some five years together – and we eventually got the reward of this hard work by qualifying for the EuroVolley for the first time since 1997. It is obvious that such progress does not and could not happen overnight,” she adds. “Moreover, we have more and more players competing in high-level leagues abroad, and we should try to increase that number – since such experiences have an immediate reflection on the quality and competitiveness of the national team as well.”  

In a country with a fairly small population, there is a lot of competition among (team) sports to attract kids and retain those with the potential to become professional athletes. “Our population is actually decreasing since less and less children are born,” Buivids comments. “Back in 2008, when a severe economic crisis broke out worldwide, few children were born and we can see right now that there is a real gap in terms of kids to work with from those years such as 2008 and 2009. However, the trend says that even less children were born in 2025 – so it is hard to imagine what the situation will look like in 15 years or so,” he says. 

Obviously, strong results can play a major role in securing that kids are inspired to play Volleyball. “The opening match with Türkiye was truly a defining moment for all of us,” Minusa says. “It was the crowning of a long process but certainly we do not want to stop here. We will continue to work hard so that more Latvian players can experience such moments – since it is only by playing at this level that they can grow and the national team will continue to develop. Such experiences make you hungry for more of the same.” 

While they obviously miss the adrenaline of competition, they can now experience it from the sidelines, in a different way. “You can live and experience that feeling even as a coach, albeit it is different than if you were standing on the court,” Inguna admits. “If I was to share the sweetest memories from my career, that would be the U23 European gold with Inga [Pulina] in 1999 as we totally surprised everyone in Europe as the underdogs and many did not even know where Latvia is. Ten years later in Sochi, together with Inese, we became European champions and I’d like to hope that our success has opened the door for many more to follow, especially including those of Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova.” 

If the match with Türkiye was a full circle moment for Inguna, the same applies to Edvarts. “My participation in the CEV EuroVolley 2021 with the men’s national team is certainly my dearest memory, especially since we had qualified for the first time in 25 years and we played our first match in the competition against the home nation, Estonia, in front of a full house as well. I’d like to hope that our journey back then has also paved the way for the current performances of the national team, which is due to compete in this year’s EuroVolley as well. We showed that Latvia can compete at this high level and I think the players we currently work with have done the same for many young girls back home.” 

The journey of Team Latvia has just began and under the wise mentorship of Daniele Capriotti, Inguna and Edvarts are looking forward to contributing to this process even further.