Gogol on his motivation to continue coaching the Latvian national team: My mission is not over

Also, it is planned to involve Gogol in working with youth coaches, so that he can give his point of view on what should be paid more attention to in the preparation process of Latvian young players.

For this reason, a special training seminar will probably be organized in November.

“I have a feeling that my mission is not over, because the work and progress in the national team is always longer than in the club,” said Gogol in a conversation with LVF about his motivation to continue coaching the Latvian national team.

Michal Gogol

Latvian men’s volleyball national team coach

“Last summer, we fought in the European Golden League, but we were “bugging”. Some teams like the Czech Republic were clearly stronger than us, we could fight with some and even win, as was the case with Estonia. However, of course, it is difficult because at the beginning you have to learn many new things, learn a new game system and adapt to a new type of volleyball. We also lacked many volleyball players when we started the Golden League competition, but some players did not play much in the clubs during the season.”

Gogol revealed that despite not entering the finals of the European Championship, the national team managed to do a good job and progress in the second stage of preparation.

“I think the best thing now is to continue, because we will start the second season from a different reference point – there is no need to learn new things, because they are already known,” explained the coach. “I want to have players with good game experience at my disposal to play an important role at their clubs.”

He also expressed the hope that the players of the Latvian national team will spend good seasons in their clubs, and they would be ready to help the national team.

Gogol was confirmed as the head coach of the Latvian national team last year. The agreement with the specialist was reached for two years according to the 1+1 formula, so if the Latvian national team managed to enter the final tournament of the European Masters, the contract would be automatically extended until the end of the final tournament.

Before that, the Latvian national team was led by the Estonian coach Āvo Kēls for four years, under whose leadership the national team returned to the final tournament of the European Championship after a 26-year break.