Rytas Vilnius youth system teams started their preparation for the new basketball season last week. Most of the players have already integrated into the training process, and members of the Lithuanian U-16 national team joined this week.
Continuity is maintained in the Rytas-2 team, which competes in the National Basketball League – head coach Gintaras Kadžiulis, coach Jokūbas Kadžiulis, strength and conditioning coach Liutauras Kasparas, and physiotherapist Agnė Ginevičiūtė continue their work.
A rotation has occurred in the Rytas-MRU squad competing in the Regional Basketball League – Mindaugas Lukauskis takes the team’s helm, replacing Egidijus Ženevičius in this post. Last season, Lukauskis worked on G. Kadžiulis’s coaching staff in the Rytas-2 team.
The youth team’s coaching staff and medical personnel were also joined by Vytautas Šulskis, who recently retired from his professional playing career, coach Elvinas Račiūnas, strength and conditioning coach Dalius Pavliukovičius, and physiotherapist Deimantė Grincevičiūtė.
“We started preparing for the season last week,” said Rytas-2 head coach G. Kadžiulis. “During the first week, we focused mostly on preparing the guys’ muscles for a higher physical workload, evaluated the players’ condition after the summer holidays, and conducted physical fitness tests. Unfortunately, we couldn’t all start preparation at the same time – the U-16 players rested for a week after the European Championship, which made the training process a bit more complicated, as workloads still have to be applied individually.
Preseason work, as always, requires patience. We pay a lot of attention to endurance and strength, laying the foundations for work on the basketball court, and systematically organizing defensive systems. Muscle soreness is currently a bit higher than usual during the season, but this is a natural part of preparation. In addition, starting this week, five of our young players will train with the main team – it is pleasing that they can contribute to the men’s team’s work and gain valuable experience.
There is a lot of work, but we are moving forward and, step by step, preparing for the start of the season.”