The floorball team of “Irlava” has started this season like a stump, achieving an unexpected victory in the match against “Lekringa”, as well as taking a point in Ķekava. At the same time, they lost at home to “Bauska” and defeated “RTU/Rockets” with great effort. Currently, all games with the participation of “Irlava” have ended with a team’s minimum task, therefore, from the point of view of intrigue, the audience is definitely not bored watching the performance of the Irlava players. The experienced Gints Siliņš, who is also the team’s most productive floorball player, has assumed the role of the team’s leader this season, who also did not deny his opinion about the start of the season to Sportacentrs.com: “It is clear that the goal of the regular season is to get the maximum number of points in every game. It’s as if we’re already playing for ourselves to achieve the highest results, but now it’s really happened that we’re also giving the audience exciting match endings. At the beginning of the season, we were definitely hoping for a few more points. I believe that the very beginning of the season and the game against “Lekring” was very good, but unfortunately against the Bauskas team, half of the team was sick and did not feel in optimal shape, therefore the game did not really go according to our plan. All respect to “Bauska”, they played really well and I think that many teams could stumble against them during the season.”
Is the team in a more special mood against the potentially stronger teams, because the results against them are even better, Gints answers that “consciously or unconsciously, it is possible that the team is in a more combative mood against nominally stronger opponents, but against theoretically weaker opponents we go out on the field with the idea , that somehow we will win. Unfortunately, the reality tends to be different, because everyone knows how to run and play.”
Looking at Silin’s statistics this season (10 points in four matches), it seems that the floorball player got a second (?) youth. Hasn’t the new national team coach already looked for the Liepaja player’s phone number? “I will be at the next national team camp (laughs, author). But seriously, I really don’t have such goals. I have represented the Latvian national team in three world championships. There are a lot of young and talented players at the moment who have put in some wild work and definitely need to be in the squad. But in any case, it’s a good feeling that you can prove to young people that at this age you can calmly play in the Elvi floorball league. Sometimes it’s funny to hear young people’s comments that they are tired of floorball. This is my 23rd season in the Premier League and I still find the fire in my eyes. It is necessary to find a balance in life in the amount of training and games in order to maintain this joy and passion for the sport. Then the result will not be left on the field either. I have always liked to be a team mover and maybe I felt that in the last game against RTU/Rockets I had to push my team a little bit. “Irlava” has a lot of talented young players, on whom I have high hopes and believe that during the season a large part of them will open up and show their abilities. ” But what is the basis of individual success, which allows you to play at the highest level for so long” “Great family support, a son who plays floorball himself, is very happy that dad can still score goals, daughters who would like to go with him to all the games and louder “Irlava, Irlava” is shouted for everyone. Likewise, the wife, who as a talisman is with her at almost all games and can motivate with gestures from the stands. All this gives additional strength. If you add your own joy to enjoying the game process and catch the positive emotions, then it gives a tangible result.”
Currently, Gints Siliņš has accumulated 680 performance points in the Latvian Premier League Championship and, continuing to demonstrate similar performance, he could soon become the 12th player at the Premier League level who has accumulated 700 points. Does he keep track of his stats a little? “Someone has done a great job and tallied it all up. I won’t deny that I’ve kept track of my points collection from time to time. I will admit that one of my goals while continuing to play in the Premier League is to reach that 700 point mark. But there is another bigger goal that I am aiming for in the 23rd season, but it is not related to statistics…”
One of the reasons that prevent a stable performance is the (un)success of the “irlava” team in the numerical majority. If in previous seasons Irlavniki were one of the best users of the majority, now the team has used only one of the nine opportunities for the majority. Gint also agrees with this: “Most of us have really disappeared somewhere. The final phase is missing. I think that we will solve this problem during the season. Of course, the absence of both Kristaps Kazlovskis and Renars East is felt, because our players’ bench is not too long and the departure of any player would be felt. However, currently the coach has found his place on the field for each player. The internal atmosphere in the team is friendly, cohesive, everyone is working towards the same goal and fighting on behalf of the team.”
Until now, the teams mostly had one game a week, but this weekend the Irlavniks have two difficult outings – on Saturday in Kocēni against “Rubeni”, and the next day an away match in Ādaži against the local “FBK SĀC”. What does the most productive player of “Irlava” expect from these games? “These will definitely be two diametrically opposed games. Against the Kocēni team, it is definitely necessary to play tactically correctly and realize your opportunities. Personally, I have always liked playing in Kočeni. I don’t even know what exactly it is connected with, but I always go there with pleasure.
On the other hand, it will be necessary to adapt to playing on the wooden floor as quickly as possible against the Ādāzu team. Here, I place the highest hopes on my co-passenger Kaspars Klamer, who hones his skills on the Grobiņa tree every day (laughs, author). But seriously, if the team manages to adapt to the conditions already in the first period, then the result should not be missed.”
