Sigitas Kavaliauskas makes his return: “I’ve come back to a team of a whole new level” 2

After a long break abroad, Zalgiris coaching staff welcomes back long-time athletic trainer of the Lithuanian men’s basketball team, Sigitas Kavaliauskas.

Kavaliauskas has already worked in Kaunas from 2006 to 2012, and has worked alongside Jonas Kazlauskas in China, followed by a stint in Krasnodar with Lokomotiv.

“During those six years with Zalgiris, the entire organization changed. I left Zalgiris without a thought of ever coming back. It was a difficult time. I left with a thought that I already went through enough, thank you. But for me, as a guy from Kaunas, from Lithuania, Zalgiris is still in my heart. And that feeling coming back is inexplainable. The entire organization has gone to different level. It’s not that I feel I’ve come back; I feel like I’ve come back to a team of a different level.”

The 36-year-old specialist will try to fit into the shoes of Justinas Grainys, who had been working with the team for the last several seasons, but moved to Barcelona this summer.

“Every coach is different, but those principles remain intact. Physiology, anatomy, something that all the coaches try to guide themselves. Justinas Grainys raised the bar high, just like Sarunas Jasikevicius did on the basketball court. There’s a will here to continue that, and show and prove that we can do just as well.”

Although there’s back-and-forth communication between him and coach Martin Schiller, Sigitas Kavaliauskas admits that the real work begins during training camp.

“Just talking is one thing. We’ll see how working together goes. It all depends on when we sit down and actually start working. That’s when it will all show. But as every time, the pre-season is coming, injury prevention, preparation. Perhaps something that’ll change is that we want basketball back as soon as possible. I fully understand that and we’ll try to implement that from the first practices.”

Zalgiris starts its training camp altogether on the 14^th of August.