BBF continues a series of interviews with Belarusian players and coaches, which talk about how basketball appeared in their lives and what role it plays. Our hero for today is the coach of the Belarus U-16 Men’s National Team – Mikalai Aliakseyeu.
Mikalai Aliakseyeu (second left in the bottom row) with the Vitebsk region team in the summer camp. 1992
How basketball came into my life
I fell for basketball at the age of 13. Before that, I went in for any kind of sport available for a simple kid of that time. For example, football, volleyball, tennis and even judo. If to be honest I did not stay in combat sport a long time: due to the fact that I was always higher than my peers, the coach put me in sparring with the guys 2-3 years older than me and I consequently kept loosing. As a result, during that one judo week I had a role of mannequin. Also there was a period of time when I was engaged in drafts, and I really liked it. I remember the first acquaintance with basketball, it happened during a physical education class and after that the teacher came to me and invited to the practice. I really liked that kind of sports, but I didn’t quit football and volleyball either. As a result, during one month I was engaged in three sports simultaneously. A little bit after, the same teacher noticed that I am good at basketball and said that I should turn to Oleg Morozov, who worked with a team of my age, and I did it. Back then, all practices were more serious and intense, so I’ve decided to concentrate my efforts on basketball.
First coach
My first coach is Oleg Morozov, whom I still consider to be my second father. He made me fall in love with basketball, taught me how to be strong and never walk back. He brought up in me such qualities as hard work, perseverance and dedication. Sometimes Oleg Dmitrievich arranged small checks for a conscientious attitude to the teamwork. For example, he gave us some tasks and then acted as if he was leaving for a short while, but we was always spying on us from around the corner. Of course, we were happy to have some free time, especially when we thought that the coach cannot see us. Everybody undoubtedly agreed when he asked if we had done everything. Then it turned out that Oleg Dmitrievich knows the whole truth, and we will face the punishment – five kilometers cross and a ban on going to the traditional evening disco in the camp. I remember how mad we were at him and he explained that we should work hard not for somebody, but for ourselves, if we want to achieve something in sports.
In a sports camp with a team of RGUOR. 1996
In a sports camp with a team of RGUOR. 1996
When I realized that basketball is more than just a hobby
In my youth, the team of the Vitebsk region, composed of players born in 1978, was quite strong. We regularly participated in all republican competitions even for an older age and the team of the city of Minsk was the only one stronger than us. When we were 15 years old, after some regular tournament one guy from our team Denis Biryukov was invited to study at the Republican State School of Olympic Reserve. I remember how back then I had a strong desire to get into the RGUOR as well, but Oleg Dmitrievich assured me that my time had not come yet. And a year later, they called me and my teammate Andrei Kopylov for an applicant’s training camp for a week in Minsk. I was ready to go there by foot; I wanted to get there so badly. There were many of our peers from all over the country at those training camps. At the end of it, the coaches Mikhail Taits and Alexander Popkov announced the names of those whom they selected for admission to the RGUOR for the new school year. I was on this list. From that moment, I finally realized that basketball is now the main thing of my life. Then our Men's Team won the 1994 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship. I was very proud that now I will study together with such cool players. The first year in the capital was especially difficult: two intensive training sessions per day became a real challenge for me. In addition, it was my debut in the Men's Championship of Belarus against mature adult basketball players, which was also difficult physically and mentally. The following year, our team was already a quite strong team in the National Championship. And a year later, when I was 19 years old, we won the Championship of Belarus. For me, that title was the first in my career, plus I become the best center of the tournament, joining the symbolic best five players of that season. After that, there was a proposal to continue my career in Belarus with the RTI-OZAA team, but I decided to get into the University of Buffalo in the USA.
Nikolai Alekseev - player of the CSKA team. 2001
The first professional club
The first professional club in my career was Moscow CSKA, which is considered to be one of the best in Europe. It seems to me that there are a few basketball players, who can refuse the opportunity to become part of such a structure. I was lucky to spend two seasons in the “army” team (2000-2001 and 2001-2002). I realized that no one would give much playing time to such a young guy like me. However, at that time, the team participated in three tournaments: the Euroleague, the Championship of Russia and the North European Basketball League (NEBL). Therefore, I knew that in any case, I’ll get my time on a court. I had to work a lot and hard. Sometimes I taped my legs in the morning practice with the main team, and removed it only late in the evening after playing for the youth team. Moreover, in the free time I had to practice shooting, work out and have practice with the second team. If the first season could only boast of stable playing time in NEBL, then at the beginning of the second one I began to receive my minutes in the Euroleague. In the Russian Championship I was among the five best players of the tournament during several rounds. However, in November 2001, I was seriously injured and because of the long recovery that was ahead of me, the coaching staff decided to invite two more players at my position. After a long rehabilitation it was difficult for me to quickly return to the previous level, so cooperation with such a team as CSKA was not possible. Then I decided to go to Serbia, where I became a player of the FMP Zheleznik.
While studying at the University of Buffalo. 1997
National Team debut
The first performance for the National Team of Belarus was in 1999 during the FIBA EuroBasket 2001 qualification. By that time, although I had already played for 2 years at the American university, there still was excitement and a sense of responsibility. For me it was the first time to play with the legends of domestic basketball. I still remember how intense my heartbeat was when I put on the National Team jersey. Although we lost the first match, and I spent only 11 minutes on the floor, still managed to score the first points for the National Team. Those emotions and feelings will never be forgotten. Recalling the last game of qualifiers against the Slovak team, one incredible moment comes back to me: a few seconds before the end of the game, we lost 1 point and, after the combination played, we made an unsuccessful open throw. Just a second before the final buzzer, Sergey Svetnik made a bury shot. It was unforgettable, the first tournament as part of the National Team and we won the point in such a tense ending. That was really cool!
Photo from the wedding. 2003
Love and basketball
When I played for CSKA in Russia, we had a company of young single guys, who were friends and chatted with girls from the team cheerleaders. I remember how from the first day I got to the company I really liked one girl named Yulia. However, it was exciting to show my interest directly, we went on a first date with one big company. And, if to run a little ahead, in the end another couple started their relationship that day: my friend from Latvia Juris Umbrashko also started dating with his future wife Anya. Thus, our relationship began in 2001, and two years later we got married. I confess that from the first meeting I knew that if I ever got married, then only to this girl. Yulia is a master of sports in rhythmic gymnastics and since 1996 she began to dance in the CSKA cheerleaders. She also performed in the musical Notre Dame de Paris. Then, after the wedding, she traveled with me to different cities in which I played, sharing all the joys and failures of my career. Probably due to the fact that she has been involved in sports for a long time and knows firsthand what we sometimes have to go through, my wife understands me at a glance, and I thank her for that a lot.
Basketball and friendship
Basketball made it possible to meet a very large number of people. In almost every team in which I played, there were always guys with whom the communication grew into friendship. Almost all of them remained in basketball, only in different qualities. And a very friendly atmosphere always reigned in our team in which I was from 1999 to 2014.
Mikalai Aliakseyeu – a player of the Falco team. Season 2007-2008
Bright career stages
There were a lot of interesting moments in each stage of my career that I want to talk about. However, if you highlight the most memorable, then I’ll probably mention two of them: the Euroleague Final Four in 2001 in Paris and the Hungarian Championship victory in 2008 as part of the Falco team. Speaking of the Euroleague, we were not able to become champions of the tournament then, but that fantastic atmosphere of the holiday I’ll never forget. Scoring 31 points and making 14 rebounds, I became MVP in the final game of the Hungarian Championship. The atmosphere and emotions of that evening, the joy of the fans, and the whole city – it was something incredible.
Challenging career stages
Of course, there were not very pleasant moments in my career. Probably the most difficult period for any player is when you can’t find mutual understanding with the coach and the club executives, which leads to the fact that every day during practices they try to break you psychologically, preventing you from using your strengths. In addition, it is very depressing when the club does not fulfill the terms of the contract in terms of the financial component. At present, this is almost impossible, but before there were countries, where only half of the salary for the season was considered normal. Not all these unpleasant nuances passed me by.
As an assistant coach of the Belarus U-16 team at the FIBA European Championship in Bulgaria. 2016
A new stage in life
During the last player’s career years, I had to train for eight months in order to prepare for at least three months of the season. It was very difficult to maintain physical fitness on my own with a trainer without working on team interactions. However, thanks to Tatyana Lovets, every time I came to a new team, my physical condition never let me down. In addition, my sons began to grow up, so the family could not travel with me to different countries as before. Then I even tried to open my own business in the field of trade, but failed. I was thinking about what to do and then BBF made an offer to try myself as an assistant coach at the RGUOR, which I gladly accepted.
After the victory of the RGUOR team in one of the rounds of EYBL. 2019
First coaching experience
The first team with which I worked as an assistant coach was the Men’s U-16 Youth Team of Belarus in 2015. Helping Gennady Samarsky at that time, I had a unique opportunity to learn some of the intricacies of the coaching profession. In addition, Gennady Leonidovich always answered in detail all my questions, for which I am very grateful to him. A year later, in September 2016, he himself led the team of guys born in 2003-2004, assembled on the basis of the RGUOR. At first, it was very difficult: I was worried, prepared for each workout for 2-3 hours, recalled what I was taught, what exercises I used. It's nice when you work on some element and it doesn’t work for a long time, and then after a while you see the progress. Of course, this process is not always fast and sometimes patience is running out, but you still find the strength in yourself and do not give up trying to convey to the athletes what exactly you want from them and in what form. When you see the fruits of your labor and the desire of young guys to become better, you understand that you work for good reason and sincerely rejoice at their professional growth and formation.
During the game with his son Maksim. 2018
With family. 2019
Father as a coach
Frankly, it is not easy to train your own son. This situation sometimes brings discomfort to both him and me. I am a strict and demanding coach, but this does not prevent me from being a kind and loving father. I try to devote an equal amount of time to all the children during each practice, to use them in every drill and moment. I will not hide, that Maksim gets more jesses during practices than others. This is not due to the fact that I am somehow biased towards him. Just whether I want it or not, and he is always in the field of my vision. We must pay tribute to him that after unsuccessful training and my reproaches, he learned to calm down quickly and not keep these moments in mind. For example, there were such cases that the team could not perform some new drill for a long time. After countless explanations and attempts to get the guys to do it correctly, seeing that they are repeating the same obvious mistakes anyway, I lost my temper and reacted very emotionally to the situation. Later, when they were going home, Maxim asked me to take care of my nerves and not be upset, assuring me that tomorrow will be a new day and everyone will succeed. And really it happened. I am very glad that over time, both he and I have learned to clearly and adequately perceive each other in the work process and in the home environment, without confusing our roles in any of these areas.
During the game at the Tournament in memory of V. Ryzhenkov. 2019
Coaching dream
If we talk about dreams, then, of course, I have global ones. Becoming a youth coach, I wanted to go all the way with them from the very beginning to the end, which would allow me to grow up as a specialist myself. Of course, in the future I would like to lead some adult professional team, whether it be a club or a National Team. I would like to make the most direct contribution to the Belarusian basketball, trying to achieve success with my players in the international arena at the top tournaments and leagues.
In the work process. 2017
Why is basketball the best sport?
I am convinced that basketball is the most intellectual, spectacular, dynamic, versatile, exciting, intense and unpredictable sport. Therefore, so many people around the world play it, and also watch on TV and cheer for teams in the arenas, enjoying all its beauty. Personally, I really like basketball and I think that it has given me a lot in my life.
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