The Invisible Team: an inside look on the Zalgiris organization 8

Lithuania is well-known for its basketball across the globe, and Zalgiris, established 75 years ago, in 1944, has been a highlight in the country’s club scene for decades.

Zalgiris is more than just a name of a team. Not just a word, but a symbol that brings pride out in every Lithuanian. While basketball is the obvious number one sport throughout the country, you will do hard to find a place with a more passionate, basketball-loving crowd than in the city of Kaunas.

Proof of that can be found in the attendance charts, where Zalgiris continues to be amongst the top-visited arenas year in and year out, breaking the all-time EuroLeague regular season attendance record last April.

While it would often seem like it’s only the men on the court and on the sidelines are doing the heavy lifting, there’s plenty more that the spectator’s eye doesn’t see. The Invisible Team is a 10-minute film about the people who take care of Zalgiris off of the hardwood, and often go unnoticed. What happens with a day until the game, and what are the tasks for hundreds invisible people that come together for Zalgiris?

Zalgiris director Paulius Motiejunas spoke about the idea of the film, The Invisible Team.

“Most fans will easily name the 12 players and coaches during the game, but often they have no clue that nearly a hundred employees add to Zalgiris results each and every day, and that there’s more than 300 people working on game days. Their dedication is what created a base for Zalgiris, which has millions of fans excited for their achievements.”

According to Motiejunas, despite the fact that throughout the decades the team has changed hundreds of basketball players, tens of coaches, and not one generation of fans, they’re all connected by a shared passion for the sports club.

“For the basketball players to be able to practice and play in suitable conditions, and the fans could enjoy a true sports show in Zalgirio Arena, there’s so many invisible people taking care of the directing, scenography, sound, technical conditions, game broadcast, and also partnerships, financing, marketing, advertising, and among other things, the thousands of guests in the arena.”

“To be able to coordinate our employee’s actions and plan the organization’s strategy we decided to implement Lean – an effective management system, that helps plan Zalgiris activity in detail for years to come and evaluate whether we’re heading in the right direction. We keep track of dozens of various indexes that help us understand the efficiency of each department. The entire Zalgiris organization is involved in this.”

Motiejunas also noted that it’s impossible to show everything that the fan’s eye doesn’t see in just 10 minutes.

“We hope that the movie managed to pass on the spirit that each Zalgiris employee lives with. From security guard, to bartender, to club management, and of course, the players themselves.”

The film was created in cooperation with Lean LT and the Wide Wings creative team.