Winning a gold medal in 1994 European "Under 22" Championship was simply surreal and out-of-this-world feeling for a young Belarus team. Till this day I feel like it was a blessing from God, but then again good things happen to those teams that work hard and have a great chemistry.
It's interesting how the big things are seen only from a far... Growing up in the post-Soviet era in Belarus, which was one of the fifteen Republics that composed the collapsed Soviet Union, was not an easy task. Like the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster was not enough, the country was limping and stumbling in its transition to market economy. The signs were way too obvious - unemployment, scarcity of food and political instability. But there was a promise, if not for all of the 10 millions of Belarussians, for athletes for sure.
It was a year of 1993 when Belarus was granted a permission to represent itself as an independent state in the sport arenas worldwide. Some of my fellow teammates from College of Olympic Reserve squad - the players who were only 18 at that time - had been asked to play for Belarus National "Under 22" Team in Euro Basket Qualifying tournament.
I was almost seventeen and was the youngest player on the team that headed to play Qualifications in Turkey by riding a bus for 3 straight days!!! Yes, for three straight days meaning sleeping, eating and living on the bus. Belarus sport authorities were tight on finance, so the bus was the one and only option. And you know what? We did not really care - how else would one see Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey otherwise:-)
After the Minsk-Bursa 1250 miles marathon was complete, we had almost an immediate practice - everything seemed in 5D format - we probably couldn't even remember our first names.
To be continued....
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It's interesting how the big things are seen only from a far... Growing up in the post-Soviet era in Belarus, which was one of the fifteen Republics that composed the collapsed Soviet Union, was not an easy task. Like the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster was not enough, the country was limping and stumbling in its transition to market economy. The signs were way too obvious - unemployment, scarcity of food and political instability. But there was a promise, if not for all of the 10 millions of Belarussians, for athletes for sure.
It was a year of 1993 when Belarus was granted a permission to represent itself as an independent state in the sport arenas worldwide. Some of my fellow teammates from College of Olympic Reserve squad - the players who were only 18 at that time - had been asked to play for Belarus National "Under 22" Team in Euro Basket Qualifying tournament.
I was almost seventeen and was the youngest player on the team that headed to play Qualifications in Turkey by riding a bus for 3 straight days!!! Yes, for three straight days meaning sleeping, eating and living on the bus. Belarus sport authorities were tight on finance, so the bus was the one and only option. And you know what? We did not really care - how else would one see Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey otherwise:-)
After the Minsk-Bursa 1250 miles marathon was complete, we had almost an immediate practice - everything seemed in 5D format - we probably couldn't even remember our first names.
To be continued....
Did you like the post? Let me Know what you think?
Very interesting and easy to read
ReplyDeleteVery useful blog!
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