We are sharing the latest Lithuanian success story of the Erasmus+ Sport project ” Sport Possibilities in RestriCtion Periods”” and we want to try to remember how the activities of our football school went during the restrictions.
Children of all ages play sports in the football school club Lituanica – from 4 years old to the older ones. Different age groups participate in county championships organized by LFF. The restrictions introduced in Lithuania in 2020 significantly affected the activities of our club.
“The COVID pandemic has spread around the world much faster than we all imagined. When the first cases appeared in Lithuania, children’s physical activity activities and general education were the activities that were quickly banned. At first, it was unclear how long all this would last, so the first weeks all the athletes were given rest. However, the bans renewed every 1-2 weeks did not bode well, so the training process was moved to remote activities,” FMK Lituanica manager Darius Kreivėnas shared his memories of the first weeks of pandemic in Lithuania.
“All clubs faced problems with the organization of the training process. What can we talk about the championships – the championships held in 2020 were discontinued and no longer renewed. Our organization took a responsible view of all the requirements of the COVID pandemic and did not conduct contact training during strict restrictions. The training took place on the ZOOM platform – most of the training was devoted to coordination and endurance exercises and individual exercises with the ball. In order to diversify the training process, it was recommended to watch recordings of specially selected matches, documentaries about famous football players and participate in various Kahoot quizzes,” said Darius Kreivėnas.
Preschool athletes faced the greatest difficulties, as they could not connect to remote training broadcasts on their own. FMK Lituanica coaches prepared weekly individual training plans for football players of these age groups, but it was not possible to get normal feedback.
Restirction were gradually relaxed: outdoor sports were allowed for 5, and later for 10 children while maintaining the required distance. The first outdoor contact training took place in unusual conditions – the air temperature was no more than 5 degrees. “Despite the unusual weather conditions and existing requirements, the children were happy to return to the football stadiums,” recalled coach.
Recalling the resumption of contact training, FMK Lituanica coaches singled out the following problems:

• Some athletes did not return to training due to the decision of parents and guardians to protect themselves from the ongoing pandemic;
• Most athletes returned to training in poor physical condition;
• Some athletes did not return to training or returned with low motivation.
  During trainings and camps, great attention was paid to hygiene – hands, inventory were disinfected and temperature of all footballers were checked.
  In order to summarize the activities of FMK Lituanica during the restrictions, it can be said that after the end of the restrictions, it took a lot of time for all the athletes to return to proper sports form and for the football school to be able to run efficiently.

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