A man that certainly has a passion for volleyball…Vitalijus Valteris!
Hi Vitalijus! So, how long have you been involved in the volleyball world?
“Volleyball appeared in my life a long time ago, when I was still a child, maybe 9 years old. I went to my first volleyball practice with a friend, and I don't know what happened, but I fell in love with this sport right away. I trained a lot, there were even several training sessions a day. Before I finished sports school, I already knew where I wanted to study. I really liked the work of a coach, so I entered the Lithuanian Sports University and got a professional volleyball coach diploma there. After graduation, I started working as a volleyball coach. I worked with high performance athletes. So, volleyball has been around me for about 28 years. While still studying, I started judging both indoor volleyball and beach volleyball competitions. My path as a judge began in 2008. And since then, I started to dream about becoming an international referee in beach volleyball. So my dream took 15 years to come true. I had to judge in many international tournaments, such as the U-18 European Championship, U-20 European Championship, Continental Cap, FIVB World futures tournaments.
Why beach volleyball? I think it is the most beautiful sports saying that can be.”
What is your favourite thing about the sport?
“What I like most about this sport is that it is a non-contact sport that requires technical thinking, athleticism in every action”.
What has been your favourite role so far?
“My favorite role in volleyball is being both a coach, a player and a referee. I really like all these positions, so I can't single out any of them”.
We heard you've recently been busy attending the European Beach Volleyball International Referee course. This sounds great, what did the course entail, and where was it?
“International referee courses are every referee's dream. Just being invited to them is a huge achievement. A total of 20 candidates from different countries participated in those courses. The courses took place in one week, three days of theory and 4 days of practice. These courses took place in Belgium in Leuven. (Very beautiful city)”.
What are you planning to do with your recent qualification?
“With the obtained candidate category, I plan to travel further as a professional beach volleyball referee, because there is still a long way to go until the highest level international referee, and who knows, maybe one day I will go to the Olympic Games”.
Do you have any exciting volleyball plans coming up on the horizon?
“With the obtained candidate category, I plan to travel further as a professional beach volleyball referee, because there is still a long way to go until the highest level international referee, and who knows, maybe one day I will go to the Olympic Games?
Currently, my plans are to improve my skills as a beach volleyball referee. At the end of August, the final stage of the Lithuanian beach volleyball tournament , it is a very big treat for the volleyball community. A new indoor volleyball season will begin in September. Our team will participate in the National league this season, and I will be the playing coach there. The highest goals.”
What an incredible career so far! Thank-you so much for your time, Vitalijus!