Envision beach volleyball as a computer game: the players are the on-screen figures, but the coach is not the one playing; instead, they are the programmer, meticulously coding the entire game beforehand. This distinction between indoor and beach volleyball coaching is significant. To help fans grasp the diligent, often understated efforts of these sand-based mentors, my “Secrets of Coaching Success” series highlights accomplished European beach volleyball coaches, aiming to uncover their unique strategies and insights.
Aigars Birzulis
Building on insights from top-tier volleyball coaches, this episode introduces our second beach volleyball expert: Aigars Birzulis. This accomplished Latvian coach guided Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova to a European Championship title at the 2022 CEV European Championship in Munich and secured a bronze medal for Latvia’s women’s national team at the inaugural CEV BeachVolley Nations Cup 2022 in Vienna.
Aigars Birzulis was born about 58 years ago, when Latvia was still part of the Soviet Union. In his youth, he played indoor volleyball and even earned a medal at the USSR Junior Championship.
Birzulis began his coaching and sports methodologist career in the mid-1980s, subsequently coaching various indoor volleyball clubs in Latvia. In 2005, he guided the Incukalns/LU team to a national championship title.
For numerous years, he also served as head coach for Latvia`s junior and youth national teams, leading the Men`s U21 squad to an eighth-place finish at the 1997 FIVB World Championship. This role, in a way, became a crucial stepping stone towards his distinguished career as a beach volleyball coach.
To maintain his players` fitness, he had them practice beach volleyball during summer breaks. In 1996, at the inaugural CEV U20 Beach Volleyball European Championships in Jurmala, two of Birzulis’s male duos achieved podium finishes: Austris Stalls & Armins Vensbergs secured gold, while Aldis Jaunzeikars & Klavs Zalkalns claimed bronze. This marked the official start of his coaching journey in beach volleyball.
Further successes soon followed. Between 2003 and 2011, Birzulis’s boys’ teams accumulated an additional six continental medals at various age-category European Championships, notably including Janis Peda & Toms Smedins’s U18 title in 2003 and Toms Smedins & Janis Smedins’s U20 title in 2005.
In 2008, Aigars Birzulis graduated as a volleyball coach from the Latvian Academy of Sports Education. Prior to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, he spent three months coaching Latvian Olympians Martins Plavins and Aleksandrs Samoilovs.
His breakthrough international coaching success at the senior level arrived with Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins, who secured bronze at the 2010 European Championship in Berlin. They subsequently achieved fourth place at the 2011 FIVB World Championship in Rome, and most significantly, an Olympic bronze at the London 2012 Games. Birzulis also coached Martins Plavins and Haralds Regza to a historic gold medal at the Baku 2015 European Games.
Birzulis celebrating the London 2012 Olympic bronze with Plavins & Smedins
Between 2014 and 2016, Birzulis accumulated three international medals coaching Latvian women`s age-group teams: a U17 World Championship bronze in 2014 with Tina Graudina & Linda Gramberga, a U18 European Championship title in 2015 with Tina Graudina & Paula Neciporuka, and a U22 European Championship title in 2016 with Tina Graudina & Anastasija Kravcenoka.
Birzulis coached in Finland from 2017 to 2020. Since 2021, he has been part of an FIVB development project, coaching youth girls’ teams in Lithuania.
In August 2022, the Latvian federation appointed him to oversee the women’s teams for the season`s two major CEV events. At the inaugural Nations Cup in Vienna, Birzulis guided the national team, comprising Anastasija Kravcenoka, Anete Namike, Tina Graudina, and Varvara Brailko, to bronze medals. Subsequently, under his tutelage, Anastasija and Tina achieved a resounding victory at EuroBeachVolley in Munich, winning all six matches and conceding only one set (in the final) throughout the tournament.
At the 2022 CEV Nations Cup with the Latvian women’s national team
For his remarkable coaching achievements, Aigars Birzulis was honored with the Order of Three Stars, Latvia`s highest state award for exceptional merit.
Since July 2020, Aigars Birzulis has also been coaching at the sports center in Marupe, a town near Riga.
In his spare time, the coach enjoys fishing and foraging for mushrooms and berries in nature.
