LOC’s new Football and Tennis Hall
Training conditions for young football players have been significantly improved
The Liepaja Olympic Center (LOC) Football Hall is the newest addition to Liepaja’s sports life. It feels like you are entering a different reality when you stand under the roof of the inflatable hall. The environment created there is close to outdoor conditions, it is a bit cool. Aivis Tints, the head of the Liepāja Sports Authority, said that the operation of the hall is also economically more profitable than what was originally thought. The hall was opened in December 2022.
“The hall surpasses all our thoughts of what it could look like and how it would have been right. We can see that the number of students has increased by more than 100 children during the year. Trauma has also decreased, that is a very important thing, why we went to this hall, because during the winter , in the cold it doesn’t work like it does indoors. The cover is softer,” explained Tint.
The director of the Liepāja Football School Oskars Kļava emphasized that the interest in the opportunity to train is great and one of the reasons is the improved training conditions.
“Now is not the worst time. When there is ice, everything freezes. We went out to practice, everything was as shiny as ice. We played “catch”, children fell, slipped, had bruises. Children and parents quickly got used to it, now they just want to train in the hall , but unfortunately it cannot. We have a second reserve field. We have divided it so that half of the training takes place on the field, the other – indoors,” said Kļava.
Football coach Armands Vīksna also praised the advantages of the closed football hall. “Girls train on one side of the hall. In the last four years, the number of girls has increased four times,” he added.
Oskars Kļava, director of the Liepāja Football School, paid attention to the children’s physical fitness. Of course, training is good, but it is not enough, in his opinion.
“This is not enough. The child sits at school all day, some are still moving, but often they are at school from nine to three, even four in the afternoon. He comes to training, but goes home and sits at the computer again. What achievements can we speak?
You have to do something in the morning, at least you have to walk or ride a bike to school, same as at home. Physical education classes are being reduced nationally, they should be more. If you do that, you can hope to be a healthy member of society. I don’t know who will be a football player,” Kļava shared his thoughts.
The LOC Football Hall is used not only by themselves, but athletes from other places also want to rent it, it is beneficial for everyone, they also travel to exchange experience on how to build such a hall.
More than 820 students train at the Liepāja Football School.
LOC Indoor football
Photo: Inga Ozola / Latvian Radio
LOC Indoor football
Photo: Inga Ozola / Latvian Radio
LOC Indoor football
Photo: Inga Ozola / Latvian Radio
LOC Indoor football
Photo: Inga Ozola / Latvian Radio
LOC Indoor football
Photo: Inga Ozola / Latvian Radio
Photo: Inga Ozola / Latvian Radio
LOC Indoor football
Photo: Inga Ozola / Latvian Radio
LOC Indoor football
Photo: Inga Ozola / Latvian Radio
LOC Indoor football
Photo: Inga Ozola / Latvian Radio
I hope to raise another Sevastov
On the other hand, on the other side of the city, also near the sea, the LOC Tennis Hall, built several years ago, has justified itself, which now allows high-quality training indoors, starting from the age of five. Liepāja has its own tennis traditions, but the number of athletes has increased after the opening of the closed hall, now 220 children and young people train in tennis.
“The sport of tennis is growing, I hope that we will soon be able to raise another Sevastov. The trend is growing, the coaches are also more and more professional. The result depends on the place where we train. The infrastructure has helped to raise young talents. Tennis will be talked about more and more. Results there will be,” Aivis Tints, head of the Liepāja Sports Authority, expressed confidence.
“In the summer, we hold international tournaments. Last year, the city of Liepāja highlighted the ITF W60 women’s tournament, where we play for a prize fund of 60,000 USD, girls came from all over Europe,” he continued.
LOC Indoor tennis
Photo: Inga Ozola / Latvian Radio
LOC Indoor tennis
Photo: Inga Ozola / Latvian Radio
LOC Indoor tennis
Photo: Inga Ozola / Latvian Radio
LOC Indoor tennis
Photo: Inga Ozola / Latvian Radio
LOC Indoor tennis
Photo: Inga Ozola / Latvian Radio
LOC Indoor tennis
Photo: Inga Ozola / Latvian Radio
LOC Indoor tennis
Photo: Inga Ozola / Latvian Radio
LOC Indoor tennis
Photo: Inga Ozola / Latvian Radio
LOC Indoor tennis
Photo: Inga Ozola / Latvian Radio
The results are already there, because the people of Liepāja regularly come home with medals from local and international tournaments.
Anna Azarova and Elizabete Marta Hamitova are also among them.
“There is good success in our group, especially in doubles. At the last European tournament, I won doubles, Elizabeth and I got first place, but we reached the quarterfinals in singles,” said Anna.
“In singles I lost in the second round, but in doubles Anna and I got off to a good start, we reached the final and won,” Elizabete added.
Elizabete Marta Hamitova dreams of the opportunity to play outside of Latvia: “Anyone who plays tennis wants to become a professional tennis player, but I doubt if it is possible. I would like to go to America with tennis.”
Anna Azarova (pa kreisi) and Elizabete Marta Hamitova
Photo: Inga Ozola / Latvian Radio
It’s starting to get tight
Kaspars Klamers, a former student of the Liepāja Tennis Sports School, has become a tennis coach, and he is currently coaching children born in 2015.
“At the time when I was training, we had outdoor tennis courts as excellent as they are now, but since the winter period in tennis is quite long, we lived in the school halls, without large spaces, different surfaces. At the moment, such a modern hall, I think tennis Liepāja has one of the biggest opportunities for young people to act. We have many national team members, winners of international competitions. The results are good. Young people go abroad after graduating from school. The influx and desire of children is also very high. Obviously, everything is working and going in the right direction,” Klamer believes.
The representatives of Liepāja’s sports industry think that the current tennis and football halls are already too small if such a great interest in these sports remains. Under the auspices of the Liepāja Olympic Center there is also an athletics arena, basketball, ice rink, swimming pool and other sports facilities.
