We present to you the cycle of success stories of the Erasmus+ Sport project ” Sport Possibilities in RestriCtion Periods”” and invite you to get acquainted with the experience of Justinas Zagurskas in professional sports during the pandemic.

Justinas Zagurskas is the captain of the Lithuanian national indoor football team and the club “Žalgiris Futsal”. Remembering the first period of sports restrictions, Justinas Z. recalled that the Lithuanian indoor football championship was interrupted after the first final match due to the pandemic, and the winners of the first final match became the winners of the championships.

“After the season was terminated and “Žalgiris Futsal” was announced as the winner of the championship, the team’s players had a break and the championship started in the new season. Under strict restrictions, all team members worked individually according to the programs of the physical training coach. At the moment, it is difficult to remember exactly how long contact training did not take place, but it was an unusually long period of time without team training,” – Žalgiris Futsal captain Justinas Zagurskas shared his experience.

Assessing both his and the team’s fitness, Justin Zagurskas admitted that the fitness really suffered, although all players worked individually, IT technologies were not used during the pandemic. Despite this, after returning to the training and competition cycle, the team’s results were not particularly affected – the team played victoriously. After returning to contact training during the limits, all athletes paid great attention to hygiene, hygiene requirements were observed weekly.

Speaking about his well-being and motivation during the restrictions, Justinas said: “We knew there was a pandemic in the world, but we didn’t think it would reach Lithuania so quickly. When everything started in Lithuania, we were in the dark: what will happen now. Being at home for a long time, it was really difficult, but I always tried to go to the countryside, to a farm, so that I could spend time in nature.”

“Many understood that if we leave all the work here and now and do not exercise individually, it will be very difficult to get back in shape, so I think that motivated us a lot. I managed to devote more time to myself and analyze my game,” Justinas Zagurskas said.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.