Unfortunately, due to the war started by russia in Ukraine, BC “Prometey” does not have possibility to hold international matches at home. Arena Riga and Olympic Centre Rimi, which are in the capital city of Latvia, have become our home courts. However, we were not left without any support in the foreign country. Our compatriots, most of whom moved from the occupied territories, come to cheer for us. In order to provide each Ukrainians the opportunity to visit matches of our “Prometey”, the club together with the Ukrainian diaspora in Riga invite and hand out tickets for the teams games. On average, about two hundreds of our compatriots visit one EuroCup game.
Those who have already visited “Prometey” matches admit that these visits for our games make it easier to accept negative news from home, basketball unites them in the foreign country. Not only “basketball” people, who played themselves, and even those, for whom basketball is their profession and who are able to continue doing their loved job in Latvia, and those who follows Ukrainian basketball for a long time, yet from the golden time of “Azovmash” but also those who just this year in Riga started visiting games. “Prometey”, as much as possible, support Ukrainians abroad in hard times.
“I found out about “Prometey” games through a group in “Telegram”, - Serhii tells us, - “Before, I was not interested in basketball, only football, I cheered for “Dynamo” (Kyiv), I watched football on TV as in my small resort town only amateur football matches were held. I did not know anything about “Prometey” until I came to see previous game of the team for the first time here in Riga. I do not know the players yet, but I like in general the way our guys play. In basketball, I like most the fight for contested ball at the very beginning of the match and also when they make three-point shots. In the previous game, I did like about 3-4 three-pointers. I used to play football and basketball, but now I like to watch games more”.
People come to “Prometey” games like a holiday
And here, children basketball coach Mykhailo has been fallowing “Prometey” for a long time and takes a lot for his work watching our team’s games:
“Because I am interested in basketball, it was not difficult to find out about “Prometey” games. I saw an announcement in Instagram. I have been visiting “Prometey” matches since their first game in Riga. I have been into basketball more than half of my life”, - Mykhaylo tells. – “Firs I played, then started working as a children coach in Kharkiv. The head coach of the Ukrainian National team Ainars Bagatskis after the war started, from March, organised camps for Ukrainian children-basketball players in different cities of Latvia. At the beginning, I worked with those children in Valmiera, and then I was sent to another place. There are less children in Latvia so far: some of them turned back to Ukraine, some of them moved further afield. Those who remained in Latvia are training and playing in Latvian teams now. Fo sure, if “Prometey” played in Ukraine, more spectators would come to see games. The fact we play not at home, affects us. However, people come to “Prometey” games like a holiday. And the team, having great basketball players, gives this holiday, demonstrates very good, very high-quality game, due to which the atmosphere at the games is just fantastic, I like this a lot. My favourite “Prometey” players are Ukrainoian players, first of all, my compatriots from Kharkiv: Illia Sydorov, who I even played with in the same team for a year when we were young, in the Kharkiv city-team; and Oleksandr Lypovyy. With his brother, Grygorii Lypovyy I used to play in the amateur league. If to say about legionaries, I like most Caleb Agada, as he can play productively in both defense and attack. He is reliable like a Swiss watch; he does not let the team down. When you work as a coach, you see the game from the different angle. “Prometey” is led by a high-class coach Ronen Ginzburg. And when you watch the game from the view of a coach, it is clear, there is a picture of the game, the coach’s style, that coach understands what he wants to see from the players and players understand him, on the court, they demonstrate the idea given by the coach.”
“Prometey” here is a part of Ukraine for us.
Many Ukrainians come to our games in whole families with children. Like Olga, for example:
“When we arrived to Riga, we decided to go to see basketball. We found out about the matches in a group in Facebook. The initiator of visiting a basketball game was my child’s godfather, who in Ukraine was a fan of Mariupol “Azovmash”, even went to road matches”, - Olga share with us, - “ I have visited a basketball match for the first time in my life already here in Riga. Earlier, long ago, I used to like football. I watched matches of “Milano” with Paolo Maldini, Inzaghi, Pirlo… After they had finished their careers, I was no longer interested in football. And I did not use to be interested in basketball at all. But now, we don’t miss a single match. We are prepared for the games: my child drew Ukrainian flag on paper, later we bought a real one. My favourite player is DJ Kennedy, also I like DJ Stephens and Issuf Sanon. Being fans of Ukrainian team, we display our togetherness. We see Ukrainian flags on stands and on players’s shoulders and realise that no matter how difficult it is for us, we are all together, we will endure and win. And “Prometey” here is a part of Ukraine for us. I would like to thank Latvia and Latvian people for receiving us, for helping us and supporting Ukrainian sport. Latvians turned out to be our brother nation.”
Ukrainian Basketball club “Prometey” continues inviting all Ukrainians who have possibility to come for our matches, fill out the form on our networking sites and get free tickets. We are waiting for you on the stands! Exactly your support is extremely important to us!
