The head coach of the Belarusian Sambo team Dmitry Bazylev told the Minsk-news Agency about the training during the pandemic and about his mission on vacation.
The team completed long-term training at the Olympic sports complex “Stayki” last week, — said Dmitry. — The trainings turned out to be unusual: the wards always get in shape for certain tournaments, and now they have worked on mistakes, performed special exercises aimed at recovering from injuries. The team is a little tense due to uncertainty. It seems that the competitions should begin in a month or two. Now we rest for a couple of weeks and go to the training camp again.
— When is the first tournament expected?
— In August we will hold a training camp in Russia, and then we will participate in an international tournament. The European Championship will be held in September. However, with the remark: if the epidemiological situation allows. We believe that by this time everything should be resolved safely.
— It is unusual to spend the season without tournaments. How is the team feeling?
— Of course, everyone is feeling uncomfortable. Sport means preparation and participation in competitions. Wrestlers are configured, mobilized. And now the trainings are taking place in a more boring, monotonous way. It’s psychologically difficult for athletes without competitions. We tried to direct them in the right direction, fortunately, there are all the conditions in “Stayki”, you do not need to travel from home to the gym and back.
— Will we see Yury Rybak, Andrei Kazusenok at the competitions? Or maybe they finished their careers?
— The guys are absolutely alright, they have held training camp from start to finish. But they found themselves an additional thing to do. Young athlets were working with adults at the Stayki training camp. Kazusenok and Rybak helped the guys, prompted the subtleties of performing attacking and defensive actions. Such training requires special preparation: you pay attention to the way you do the tricks yourself and think how to show all the nuances. This is a transition to a new level.
— What recommendations did you give your sportsmen before the holidays?
— You can not exclude exercises and jogging: you can loose your shape very quickly. Everyone has a sports ground, a stadium, a park nearby. I don’t worry that someone will miss their trainings. They are professionals. Although it is more important to spend more time with relatives and friends, to take a break from the wrestling, to do the housework and heal the injuries. How will I spend my vacation? I will be with my wife and daughters. I want to make repairs in the children’s room. The girls have grown up and we need to change the pink color of the wallpapers to another.
— In the beginning of August 2019 your appointment as head coach was announced. Were you worried?
-I’m still worried now, although I was morally preparing myself to the fact that this could happen. I worked as a senior coach in a team for 5 years before that and studied the situation quite well. I began to perform my duties on August 1. I got more responsibility. It’s great that Vyacheslav Kot, who previously headed the Belarus national team, is now working as a senior coach. He prompts and helps me. But sometimes it’s hard to me: it’s easier to do something myself than to give a task to Vyacheslav Stepanovich.
— Your first major tournament as a head coach was the World Cup. Are you satisfied with the performance of your athletes?
— Marina Zharskaya and Tatyana Matsko won, also we had five silver and six bronze medals. I would like to have more golden awards. Probably, the II European Games took a lot of forces. It is very difficult to reach the peak of the shape for the second time. I was not much worried about this. All in all, when something does not work out, I immediately analyze my work. And the athletes have their own devils in their heads.
— You won the World Cup six times when you were an athlete. How did you deal with your devils?
— Sometimes I was making the same mistakes before correcting them. I remember I didn’t want to miss the big starts of the season — the European and World Championships. I did not pay attention to injuries that were getting worse. Then there were serious problems with my back.
— It’s hard to be a coach. Do you have the moments when you enjoy the process?
— At first I adapted to a new field of activity. To do this, you need to kill an athlete in yourself in order to sincerely invest in the guys all the best and to correct their mistakes. Satisfaction comes after success in major tournaments and awards won by your athletes. But competitions give you the things to think about: you notice what exactly you need to adjust in the preparation.