Inevitable changes did not reduce ambitions

Summer without competition

« The change of times is an inevitable process, » says coach Janeika.

There are more questions in the strategist’s head than answers now, but the changes have not diminished ambitions. Especially since the young people playing a boulder are already preparing for the serious challenges of the coming summer next to the main team.

« The missed paralympic games seemed to sow a void. We were used to playing somewhere every summer and last year – nothing.

In December 2023, Lithuanians won the European Championship medals for the ninth time in Montenegro, but the silver was not enough for the Paris ticket-only the champions of Ukrainians received it.

One of the most prominent Lithuanian Blind Hockey Stars Genrikas Pavliukianec, 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympic Champion, 2000 Sydney and 2008 Vice -Champion of the Beijing Games, 2021 The winner of the Tokyo Paralympics bronze medal, at the time in the finals with the Ukrainians, the team’s t -shirt wore the last time.

Later, Justas Pašauskas and Nerijus Montvydas said goodbye to the team.

Duties: Paralympic champion M. Brazauskis is the new captain of the national team. / Photo by Parateam.lt

A special challenge – youth

For old -fashioned elders who left the shift team, coach K. Janeika searched not only in the long -standing Paralympic Hill with visual disabilities – the Lithuanian Blind and Visually Impaired Center (LASUC) in Vilnius, but also in Kaunas.

K. Janeika, 36, who is stubborn from Druskininkai, eventually managed to bring together so many players that they are sufficient to fill not only the gaps in the men’s team, but also for the youth teams, which will be attended by the European Youth Paralympic Games this summer.

« Twelve boulders are now training. Some work from the shoulder, others are helping, former elders – N. Montvydas, J. Pažarauskas, Mindaugas Suchovejus. In the autumn of the European – European Championship in Finland, our aspirations are gold medals, we have no right to raise the lower goal. Janeika.

To the old man – the duties of a captain

Almost fifteen years ago, in the autumn of 2010, M. Brazauskis was already a witness to the change of generations of the blind, when he finished LASUC, contributed to the main team of the country.

The pursuit – European gold, we have no right to set a lower goal.

« Then a few more young and older players came with me. But the situation was simpler at the time because the nucleus was still formed by experienced boulders. We young people could compete with them for the place in the main composition, so the training was of high quality. More young people contributed, so the veterans were calm, the losses were not very painful.

According to K. Janeika, new capable players find it harder to find because they are now distracted throughout Lithuania, and in the past only LASUCs came.

2012 M. Brazauskis missed the London Paralympic Games, but became European champion in 2013. 2014 The World Cup was won fourth place in Finland, and in 2016 Paralympic Rio de Janeiro-Gold.

2017 In Finland, ours defended the title of European Champions, and a year later, in Sweden, the World Cup was again fourth. In 2019, Lithuanians won the IBSA Games in the US and received a travel ticket to 2021. Paralympic Tokyo and brought bronze from the European Championship from Germany.

At the Tokyo Games, Lithuanian boulders won bronze and became European champions.

« My journey with the national team is incredible. It is a shame that we have failed to break into the Paris Games. We want to come back to them, so it is crucial to stay in the elite of the world, » Brazauskis said.

Duties: Paralympic champion M. Brazauskis is the new captain of the national team. / Photo by Parateam.lt

Nucleus and newcomers

K. Janeika around the surviving core: M. Brazauskis, Artūras Jonikaitis, Normantas Prušinskas, Juozas Eigminas – trying to make newcomers.

Even the Kaunas swimmer Simonas Sparrow was interested in the opportunity to try the strength in the Hockey Square. Together with him from Kaunas to the main national team training, athlete and swimmer Osvaldas Kucavičius arrives twice a week, another Kaunas resident – Povilas Krapikas – appeared, but he could not play his hand while running.

Nojus Vaicekauskas, brothers Ugnius and Kernius Grigaičiai, and several players are members of the youth team who are also claiming the main team.

« Modern young people do not like rigor and discipline, it is necessary to motivate them, to convince them, to dedicate tasks every time, to find levers. However, we find a common language and that is the most important, » Janeika emphasized.

The coach is helped by the elders, one of them, M. Brazauskis, although last summer he also wondered if it would be worthy of at least a temporary break.

« I feel physically strong and my body does not send serious signals that it’s time to retreat, but for more than a decade, my psychological well -being responded, the emotional state lags behind the physical. When you think, then you start to make a mistake during the competition. It accumulated, ”admitted M. Brazauskis.

Lithuanian boulders won the European Championship silver in 2023, but this was not enough for the Paralympic Paris ticket. / Photo by Parateam.lt

Will check the forces in Trakai

The tournament in Trakai is waiting for both Lithuanian national teams – both men and young people. There will be two separate competitions for teams of different age groups.

« This will be the first serious challenge for guys, so we will see their potential. Boulders under the age of 23 will play in the tournament, although we are just seventeen or eighteen for ours, as players over the age of 19 will be available to the European Youth Paralympic Games, » Janeika said.  » Australian, South Korea, Germany, Poland, Finnish.