RSU has started the new sports year and invites athletes to join

The new academic year does not only begin for students and lecturers, but also for Rīga Stradiņš University’s (RSU) athletes. Every spring, they are celebrated for the awards and achievements they have made over the course of the academic year. What are the challenges that both the professional athletes at RSU as well as students who exercise for fun will be met with this year? To answer this question, we spoke to Laura Ritova, Head of the RSU Sports Club.

From the left: RSU Vice-Rector for Administration and Development Toms Baumanis, Laura Ritova, and Jānis Blūms, Chair of VEF Riga Council and long-time captain of the Latvian national basketball team

What awaits RSU students this year? What competitions should we follow especially closely?

Students compete in both team and individual sports, such as swimming, badminton, table tennis and others. RSU has three leading sports teams: the women's basketball team, which will compete in the Baltic League, the men's basketball team, which will compete in the LBL2 league and the Latvian Cup, and the women's volleyball team, which will compete in the Baltic League and the Latvian Cup. Our swimmers will take part in the Latvian Championships, the Latvian Universiade, and the SELL Student Games. As high-level swimming competitions do not take place often in Latvia, we also compete abroad. RSU also has an ice hockey team that competes in an amateur league. Both Latvian and international students are part of this team. RSU will also soon be forming a men's volleyball team. It will be created due to the integration of the Latvian Academy of Sport Education into RSU.

Our students participate in various athletics disciplines, as well as strength disciplines such as power press, and powerlifting or power triathlon. We participate in competitions where we can achieve good results. RSU gives us funding and supports its athletes.

Students join and then graduate, so the members of the sports teams change. How do you ensure that teams don’t lose their professional level because of this?

To be honest, high-level athletes come to university to play for a particular team or participate in a particular sport. There are not that many athletes of a certain calibre in our country; coaches know the students in their sport. 

There are, however, some new students who are not well known in their sport but think they could do well and want to give it a try. We give these young people the opportunity to show their abilities to the coaches. 

We have an introduction week in basketball and volleyball, where both our students and international students can come and show their skills.

We really want there to be a time when, like at other universities around the world, students enrol for their sport. So far, we haven't had many good players among our international students. There is no need to look very far as even Estonian or Lithuanian athletes could come here to study and compete.

What opportunities will the new RSU sports complex at Cigoriņu iela offer?

It will be the most modern and beautiful sports centre in Riga. The indoor court will meet FIB-2 standards, which will enable us to organise high-level competitions in basketball and volleyball. Maybe we will manage to complete the construction before the European Basketball Championships 2025 and our court could be the site where different national teams train.

We will also have two new exercise rooms, which students and staff will be able to use. In addition, the old complex will also be rebuilt. It will have a new, modern gym under the current one, which will be retained. In total, we will have three exercise rooms, a gym, and two indoor courts. We hope that construction will start in spring.

The traditional RSU Sports Day took place a few weeks ago. What was it like this year?

We organise this event every year. It used to be held in Uzvara Park, which allowed for a broad programme due to the large area. For the past two years, the event has been held at the RSU Sports Club. There are certain advantages namely that students can get to know the club right away, get answers to their questions about sports opportunities. The Riga Catholic Gymnasium, which is nearby, allows us to use its football field. We played volleyball and basketball indoors, and students took part in power and functional competitions.

Next year, we will probably organise Sports Day in Inspiration Park. We had a good experience organising Fitness Day here.

What advice do you have for students and staff who are just starting out with sports?

We welcome everyone to the RSU Sports Club! Students come and play basketball, volleyball, table tennis. You can book the hall to play with your friends and group mates. There is a gym, bike trainers, rowing machines, and other facilities. There are functional and power training groups twice a week. Yoga classes will resume in the second half of September. We also have our own cheerleading team.

Physical exercise is necessary to be able to cope with your studies. It keeps your brain in shape and stabilises the nervous system.

The events of recent years - both the Covid-19 pandemic and the war - have shown that we need to be strong not only mentally but also physically.