“I like to talk about things like with the opposing team or my players,” Bloom says with a smile on his face. “Many Latvian players have gone through ‘vefu’, so we need to help the team continue to grow.”
The “Morning Panorama” program featured the congratulations of other well-known sports personalities in Latvia to Bloom. Among them were Kaspars Stupelis, Edgars Točs, Kaspars Kambala, Kārlis Pauls Lasmanis, Kristaps Janičenoks and Dairis Bertāns.
Bloom made no secret of the fact that “the phone was hot” when he announced the end of his career on Monday.
During his career, one of the highest peaks of the Bloom was playing for the Athens “Panathinaikos” team. The basketball player still remembers this time with positive emotions.
“I think there are about five or six grands in basketball in Europe. Among them is Moscow’s CSKA, [Pirejas] Olympiacos, Panathinaikos, Real Madrid and Barcelona. Maybe another Tel Aviv Maccabi. It was fantastic to play there for at least one season to see how things are going in the big teams, “Bloom remembers the brightest moments of his career.
“I’ve learned a lot since then. I hope this knowledge will help me in the future while working in my club,” Bloom is convinced.
During his career, Bloom always tried to be open to fans as well. He speculates that this is probably why he is still remembered in Italy, Spain and elsewhere in the world where he managed to play.
“Yesterday [pirmdien] was pleased to receive congratulations from Athens, Spain or the VTB League. For many teams, “reveals the former national team captain, who is planning his farewell game in his hometown of Saldus.
“There will definitely be a farewell game, I have promised it. I don’t know what format and what we will play against, time will tell,” says Bloom. “Speaking of the Latvian national team, we had to play one match in the” Arena Riga “against Bulgaria. Then there would be an excellent farewell.”
Last July, Bloom returned to the well-known Italian A-Series unit of Reggio di Emilia’s “Unahotels”. The team terminated his contract with Bloom in mid-December last year.
Last year, 38-year-old Bloom took part in four matches in the Italian A-Series, scoring 1.5 points on average in 7.5 minutes.
In February, Bloom was determined to help the Latvian national team in the qualifying games of the 2022 European Championship, but the head coach Roberts Štelmahers did not include him in the list of candidates.
In the 2019/20 season, Blūms returned to “VEF Rīga” and spent an average of 20.1 minutes on the field in 20 Latvian-Estonian championship games, gaining an average of 10.4 points. He also won an average of 1.5 rebounds per game and returned 2.2 assists.
In the FIBA Champions League, the 39-year-old basketball player stood out in 11 games with an average of 9.4 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists.
“VEF Rīga” with Bloom in the 2019/20 season was also recognized as the winner of the Latvian Basketball League.
Even before returning to Riga, Bloom played the season in the Russian club Perm “Parma”.
In the 2015/16 season, Bloom represented the Italian A-series club Avellino “Sidigas”, but due to injury he played only nine games in the local championship. Prior to that, he played for the strong Greek unit of Panathinaikos in Athens.
During his career, Bloom has also played in the Latvian clubs “Brocēni”, “Skonto” and “Ventspils”, twice becoming the national champion, as well as in the Wloclavek “Anwil” team from Poland, in the Lithuanian team “Lietuvos rytas” in Vilnius, in the Italian club “Eldo” in Naples. , In the Spanish team Bilbao “Basket”, as well as in the Kazakh champion “Astana”.
The captain of the Latvian national team has participated in six European championships as part of the national team, competing in a total of 170 games.
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