Not talking to the media? Opinions are offered by the mental coaches of the Latvian national teams – Hockey – Sportacentrs.com

Creating publicity has been part of professional sports for quite some time, and athletes have to expect invitations to interviews in the media. It is not always an obligation to respond affirmatively to the call, and sometimes even those who announce a boycott of the media get more publicity.

This can also be attributed to the start of this week in the Latvian hockey team, which after a two-year break welcomed Elvi Merzlikina, the long-time goalkeeper of the NHL club Columbus Blue Jackets, to their training camp. Merzlikin came to talk to the media, but instead of talking, he spoke himself, pointing to the negations of fans, which, in his opinion, are made by local media publications about him. Merzlikin pointed out that the argument that he was “not a good teammate” had spread, which he dismissed as a misrepresentation. In his speech, Merzlikins, who has represented Latvia in five WCs, also confirmed that this was his first and last interview.

It is clear that, as a result, Merzlikin’s arrival in the Latvian national team gained even more attention and created new questions, at least among the media and fans. But what does this mean for the team itself? Are such situations even in the coaches’ thoughts and how (or) are they dealt with? We asked this to people whose CV contains the entry “Psychological preparation coach of the Latvian national team”. For several years, Mārtiņš Martinsons was in the coaching staff of the Latvian basketball team under the head coach Ainars Bagatskis, while Edgars Pukinsks, the former general secretary of the LFF, was the mental coach of the Latvian football team under the leadership of the head coach Daiņas Kazakevičas.

“Coaches should be happy if Elvis decides not to talk to the media”

“Elvis is direct, this is his character. It is felt that there is some kind of resentment. In this way, he tries and wants to remove this resentment,” said Martin Martinson, founder of FranklinCovey in Latvia, team coach. “You can’t say that the last two seasons were excellent for him, and he had to go through all that. Why he did that, he will best answer himself. My advice to him is not to consume the content of social networks and focus only on work: currently training, but then we also play in the world championship. I’m sure that’s the main thing for him right now – good emotions and a cool championship. We know he can play well.”

“He himself repeats in his message that he knows and is aware of who he is. He is direct and many people don’t like that,” continued Martinson. “He says what he thinks and how he sees the situation. In all teams there are old people who talk and there are those who pee their pants about it. There are those who do not admit their mistakes, but Elvis calls things out. It is clear that those who speak direct language are often disliked by those around them. The more people in the team who can speak direct language, the stronger the team is.”

How should coaches and the rest of the team act and react in such a situation? “The coaches should be happy if Elvis decides not to talk to the media. He’s going to focus on work and his own things right now, not wasting energy on other things,” replied Martinson. “The goalkeeper coach of the national team is Artūrs Irbe, who also has a strong character, I am sure that they have talked about all this. Irbe also has a backbone and I think they can talk about all this. Elvi now needs a clear signal of what the team expects from him If he can do what is asked of him, everything is fine. If not, you will not go to the championship. The man and the name are very different, but Irbe leaves a very good impression.”

“It must be understood that Elvis is going through a difficult phase of his life. His very close friend passed away a long time ago, Elvis is forming a family, the family is growing, the game is not going well… everything goes together. And on top of all that, the media misunderstands him. Something is wrongly or inaccurately taken out of context. All this has consequences. I wish Elvi not to sit on social networks, and to achieve the result, then we will all be happy!” wished by the former coach of the Latvian basketball team.

“The coach’s focus must be to help the player get to the root of the problem”

“I will say right away that I know too little about Elvi Merzlikin as a person to make a specific assessment,” said Edgars Pukinskis, the former mental coach of the Latvian football team. “I can only offer my vision from the outside, as well as roughly outline how I myself would work with a similar situation. In his public address on Monday, one can see resentment, moreover, such resentment that did not arise in 1-2 days, but has been accumulating for a long time, and there could be something deeper underneath, but – I haven’t been close enough to Merzlikin to be able to speculate about it in detail.”

“The coach’s point of view here is usually the following – players are invited who benefit the team with their skills and physical condition, and players who are good teammates and help keep the team together are also invited. It is important for the coach to evaluate whether the inclusion of a player in the national team, there are frequent situations where a person is invited to the national team because of his presence. For example, Ikaunieks, Gutkovskis, when there were injuries, Māris Verpakovskis was also invited to join the team , when he traveled to games with the national team, was a very important creator of the microclimate with his presence alone,” Pukinsk said.

Communication with the media in football team matches and tournaments is regulated by UEFA and FIFA rules, and Pukinsk pointed out that such a media boycott could not really be requested in the football team, however, he agreed that if a player has such a position, then he could calmly implement it without such of a public application, that is, by simply refusing interviews.

“The story here is that you are no longer invited to an interview as a private person, you are invited as a player of the Latvian national team. I understand that sometimes it is difficult to distinguish when you represent yourself as a person, when you represent your club and when you represent your national team, but it should be taken into account,” Pukinsk continued. “It cannot be an ideal situation for national team coaches, because the decision not to talk to the media is not a solution to the situation, it is rather a departure from the root of the problem, and if the situation is not resolved, then it is very difficult to put 100% of yourself into training and matches. “

How would he act in a similar situation as a mental coach? “I will try to understand the basis of the situation, go to the root of the problem. Understand why this defiance has started and what impact it has. I would definitely not leave it alone. But the focus would definitely be to help the player. It would not be that I directly oppose his decision not to talk to the media, but I would ask him exactly why he made such a decision and if he is sure that it is a solution, not leaving the problem hanging in the air? , what results such a decision brings. But in the end it’s still a personal choice of everyone.”