Ukrainians Natalya and Varya take refuge in Sp. Braga: «In Portugal there is more fun» – Basketball
Natalya Zherunova and her daughter Varya found in Braga a port to lead as normal a life as possible, without thinking about war in their native Ukraine, thanks to Sporting de Braga’s basketball integration.
Both arrived in Portugal a month ago, fleeing the war in their country and coming to their son and older brother, Bogdan Isachenko, a goalkeeper integrated in the Braga-19 squad weeks before the war, after a period of testing. “When the person started and my mother was forced to leave, the only one that the person could receive was me. With the help of a big club like Sporting de Braga it was much easier to bring her and her sister power”, I outline to the agency Lusa the 18-year-old guardian, who translated parts of the conversation with family members.
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Natalya, 43, has an important background as an athlete: she was a professional basketball player and international for her country for eight years, ending her career in 2011. She later moved to the Ukrainian Basketball Federation and, for five years, has been a member also the Ministry of Sport in that country.
The Arsenalista club integrated her into the basketball section and the Ukrainian team now supports the training of mini-basketball teams, the sector with the youngest in the sport at Sporting de Braga, the section coordinator, Miguel Moura, told Lusa.
“There’s nothing that helps me adapt to everything that’s easy for my family”, get around me before it’s easy and easy for my family, get around me before it’s easy and easy for my family.
For the former player, it was essential in this new life that the Ukrainian forums remain “linked to football”, a sport that he has practiced since he was a young age and with which he always corresponded to the basketball date.
“I do what I like. When I finish training, I’m already thinking about the next one. I’m excited to work here and be part of this club’s basketball. I don’t think about the future, just the now, and I’m very happy to help the coaches and coaches young players”, he said.
Knowledgeable of several options for the Portuguese selection and the way in which teams play, Natalya Zherzherunova considers the biggest difference between the basketball of the two countries has to do with mentality and even cultural.
“In Portugal, there is more play with children, in Ukraine it is stricter, more discipline. In the first years, our coaches try to make the youngsters of the sport, after that, through the years, they become like a job and not it’s possible to play with basketball, it takes discipline, otherwise it’s like a ‘hobby’, it’s better not to go out because you’re wasting time”, he explained.
According to Natalya, in Ukraine, the “government demands results, perhaps here the government does not demand it”. Her nine-year-old daughter Varya has classes every day via Zoom with her teachers in Kiev, so the three weekly training sessions are the only contact she has with her Portuguese colleagues, which Natalya considers “very important” because she can be with other children.
Shy and just knowing some basic expressions in Portuguese, the girl appears in the interview room and says she is “very happy” to be in Braga and “satisfied with the training and the coaches”. “She plays for about two years and I want that when we return to Ukraine she will be at a higher level. I don’t want to think about it, but we will be here much longer, she has to prepare. street basketball, in Braga. My training is more intense and I’m stricter for her”, outlines Natalya, between smiles.
For Miguel Moura, the participation and integration of Natalya and Varya have been “very positive”.
“It forced us to think about mini-basketball in a different way, Natalya brings a skilled workforce, and we have very few in Portugal and even fewer women. of a federation more or less at the level of ours and that arrives with a free spirit. It is an example for us and can help us to raise our level”, he said.
Emphasizing the club’s social role, he revealed that the idea “is to expand the participation” of Natalya “and integrate her into a project to visit schools”. “We want to bring basketball to about 2000 children from EB1 and EB2,3 in the county”, he added.
Regarding Varya, note the shyness potentiated by the difficulties in communication, “but basketballistically speaking, he has a lot of talent”. “She’s nine years old, but they compete with the under-12s and have an unusual ability. She has a lot of resources. In Ukraine, they don’t have small baskets, she already trained five times a week in the big baskets, it has a lot to do with a Here, there is a lot of playfulness, there is a mentality to be the best”, he evaluated.
Natalya’s husband is also linked to basketball and was the coach of the Ukrainian national team of the 3×3 variant (already tried out at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games), it now remains a Ukrainian “defending territory”.
“I have other possibilities to continue my life, but the family decided that, in principle, they would stay in Braga until schools reopen for children in Ukraine”, because that will also mean “war”, concluded Natalya.