The anniversary year will start with Rugby Day
Rugby club “Mītava” organizes Rugby Day every year, offering residents and guests of Jelgava – both children and parents – to get to know this sport and try their hand at it. At the event, which will take place on January 25 at 11:00 a.m. in the Zemgale Olympic Center, everyone will have the opportunity to learn more about the club, talk to the coaches and spend time actively. Participation in the event is free until you bring a sports outfit.
According to Roberts Bondarenko, coach of the Mītava rugby club, the club will celebrate its 15th anniversary in 2026. “During these years, we have become Latvian champions and winners of the Latvian Cup in several age groups, won awards at the youth Olympics, as well as selected several members of the Latvian national team,” says R. Bondarenko. At the moment, around 60 children and young people between the ages of 8 and 18 – both boys and girls – are training in the club. As the club has grown, the coaching staff has also expanded – currently six youth coaches work in the club, and three of them are members of the club. brought up. The coach Dmitriys Bondarenko has been working in the club since its foundation, while his son Roberts has assumed the duties of the head coach. Coaches Inese Sigutenkova, Rihards Pluškevics, Dāvids Židelis and Evelīna Roze Puja, who are enthusiasts of their sport and passionately nurture rugby culture and transfer knowledge to the younger generation, make an incalculable contribution to the work with the youth. In addition, some coaches are still active players themselves.
“Currently, the club’s development vector is focused on attracting new players and creating an adult R7 team, which would serve as the last stage of the pyramid. This would allow the players who grew up in the club to stay in Jelgava and continue playing rugby. We already have good experience – for the past three years we have also competed in men’s competitions, winning 4th place in the Latvian Championship, and bronze medals in the Latvian Cup. However, we must admit that it is not always easy for young players to fight against more experienced rugby players, so it takes time to form a stable core of the team,” revealed the coach.
Rugby club “Mītava” competes not only in the Latvian championship and various local tournaments, but also gathers experience outside the country’s borders, for example, in competitions in Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, France and Georgia.
