Which goalkeeper is missing ...

WINNER OF SPARTAKIAD

Sergey Elevich could not boast of serious sporting achievements. He was born in Moscow, graduated from the Youth Reserves School of Labor. He played for Spartak (aka Stroitel) from the Moscow region. He won with this team at the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the RSFSR.

Then he worked as a coach, first in the Builder, and then in the Spanish Vigo.

“Our club was one of the structures of the football Celta. The team I played was mainly played by young basketball players,” he said. “I had as many as seven assistants, although we played in not the highest division. However, I preferred to do everything myself. Even my apartment was in the Sports Palace on the second floor. By the way, in Spain I learned to play tennis. "

Returning to Russia, he helped organize Khimki BC. And since 1997 has been their permanent coach. Country record holder in one place.

In 2002, unexpectedly for everyone, he became the coach of the Russian team.

“Before making this decision, I thought a lot,” the coach admitted at a press conference. “But I am primarily a Russian citizen. So I think I made the right choice.”

Colleagues from the championship of Russia treated him rather indifferently. Everyone considered him not a professional trainer, but rather an administrator who knows how to conduct a lesson. However, he managed not to become the second Rodionov. He relied specifically on work with basketball players. However, everyone recognized that defeating Khimki, especially in their arena, is very difficult. And not because Elevich has strong teams. Just at the games in the suburbs, the referees work somehow strange.

But on bezrybe became the best coach of 2006 according to the RBF.

DRAGER OF LEGIONERS

Immediately made a keynote statement in which he expressed dissatisfaction with the dominance of legionnaires in the Russian championship. And he began to talk about it a few minutes after the appointment.

“The main thing is that we are late with rejuvenation. In the Russian Championship, foreigners squeeze our youth out of clubs and prevent them from growing,” said the coach indignantly. “I’ll definitely talk to club leaders so that they spend more time working with young players.”

Then Elevich repeatedly clarified the position:

“As for the number of legionnaires in clubs, it can be anything. The question is how to use them. Let them play in the same Euroleague and other international tournaments. And in the domestic championship, I think we need to introduce clear restrictions on the number of foreigners "he suggested in an interview with Kommersant." For example, two legionnaires and three Russians. Then our basketball players will have a game practice that they are so lacking. Moreover, the Russian championship has become so fleeting - only two laps at ten clubs. Where still play like that "But even from this time on, our guys get almost nothing. They sit on the bench, just getting the money. And so they quickly finish with basketball. But with the same Nikolai Padius, this could happen soon - an unenviable fate."

Now, of course, he forgot about these words. Legionnaires in “Khimki” abound.

ELEVICH WITHOUT OLYMPIAD

A year later, he was dismissed from the post of head coach of the national team, as he could not withdraw the national team to the Olympics, having failed the European championship in Sweden with it. Although before that I planned to win a place in the top three.

“The program that we carried out was correct, the position was justified. Another thing is that it didn’t work out,” he lamented after the resignation. “The team showed good games, but they didn’t fulfill the task. The defeat in the quarterfinal meeting erased all our hopes. But it turned out that the victory didn’t guarantee anything. The team had many problems, injured were Petrenko, Chikalkin, Bashminov. But, by and large, they did not express complaints about the work of the coaching staff. On the contrary, there were positive aspects. "

He tried to stay in the team and after the failure, he applied for the coaching council, but he was not left.

QUOTES OF YELEVICH

(Immediately after the failure at the European Championships in Sweden.) "And if they entrust me with the national team for another four years, I will finish what I started and make an excellent team."

(On the troubles of the national team). "It is naive to believe that Ivkovich cares about our basketball. On the contrary, he is ruining it! After all, the worse the Russian team plays, the better for him ..."

(Regarding the absence of foreigners in Khimki.) "This is my firm position, which I will defend and will not change. Our players are no worse. There will be no foreigners in Khimki. The club management supports me in this."

(On the salary of the head coach of the national team.) "Money was secondary. I am an independent person who is not interested in money. The most important point for me is work."

(About leisure.) "I really like to go to the country with my wife Lyudmila. In the summer, we actually live in it. The place is very good, there is a pine forest nearby. I often go out alone into the forest, gather my thoughts and decide something. I like it to meditate by the fireplace. "

(About childhood dreams.) All childhood dreamed of becoming ... a goalkeeper. And play in the team of masters. Now it’s even hard to remember when, as a boy, he stood at the gate. Everyone said that he played selflessly. Threw himself at the feet of any ball. According to my peers, he shot balls directly from the toe. And it was especially cool to play on the outputs. Engaged then in the “Locomotive”.

Alexey Shevchenko