Alarm during the Vilnius basketball school war: “We are being expelled”

The coach of the capital’s basketball school (SKM) Deividas Zoruba trains about a hundred young basketball players in the capital’s Pilaitė district.

But now he is afraid of being thrown onto the street, because the school that rents the hall has received a letter indicating that the most convenient time for training should no longer be for him, but for the Vilnius Basketball School (VKM) .

Andrius Čerškus, one of the founders of SKM, supports his coach and his business, who has questions for Adomas Bužinskas, Deputy Director of the Capital Administration and Chairman of the Board of the Vilnius Rytas Club.

“Adomas Bužinskas is promoting the procedure for renting gyms, which would make budgetary institutions, including MRE, exceptional with exceptional conditions. We have a question, why are budgetary institutions being sponsored?

Budgetary institutions will receive rooms without competition, and our coaches will remain overboard.

Although we have successfully carried out our activities for thirteen years, the new plan aims to eliminate us from other districts of the capital and take them to the margins ”. A. Čerškus, one of the founders of SKM, is concerned.

Rent – in an internet system

Vilnius city leaders promise a new order.

According to her, as of September this year, all schools in the capital, not just basketball, will use a clear rental system.

Until now, the “smarter-old” principle has worked: renting a room had to be negotiated with the principal or housekeeper at each school. And starting in the fall, all free time, spaces, and conditions will be clearly visible on a single Internet system.

“It just came to our attention then. We are in favor of a transparent system, for the opening of rooms and for the use of all. The objective of the new system is good: to open sports fields and music classes for all. But we are caught in this place because the budget has priority for schools, and private schools are set aside, ”said Neringa Juškienė, director of the Association of Non-formal Education of Children and Youth.

But Adomas Bužinskas, Deputy Director of the Vilnius Municipality Administration, calculates differently.

He emphasized that this was the case so far: the priority right to reserve rooms belonged to municipal institutions.

They will retain the advantage, but the total number of hours allowed for rent is growing in favor of private institutions.

On Wednesday, A.Bužinskas presented an improved project to the Vilnius Municipality Economic and Financial Committee, according to which private non-formal education institutions will receive 14-16.5 hours instead of 8 hours per week. Budgetary institutions will have 12 hours, but will maintain a preference for a specific time for classes to choose first.

“There is no advantage given. Exactly, the hours for private non-formal education institutions have now more than doubled, said A. Bužinskas. – There is no additional advantage under this scheme. School times have always been divided in such a way. that the need for general education schools is first satisfied, then the need for non-formal education in the municipality, and then the remaining free time is left for rent to private non-formal education institutions.

If in the past any behind-the-scenes agreement has managed to reach an agreement with the directors to circumvent the general procedure, this should already be discussed by the relevant authorities. Now we can make sure that post-accession agreements no longer exist. “

A.Čerškus agrees that until now, schools preferred to let them in, because SKM contributed to the well-being of most schools with teams (dances) and festive events.

But he is convinced that the regime change will give an advantage to local authorities, including the main rival ERM, and the situation of private institutions will certainly not improve.

For example, by having 12 hours a week and getting the time to make a reservation first, they can calmly ensure the best time after school, 4 p.m. at 7 p.m.

A.Bužinskas believes that in the end the fight is not for hours, but for more important prey.

“I understand that there are opinions of politicians and others that we should not perform the functions of non-formal education in general and give everything to private companies. But this is another level of political decision, said A. Bužinskas. – I think that the shark is because of that. Stakeholders are involved in the deliberations, trying to shake up two issues. There is one side that believes that the municipality should not perform the non-formal education function and would suggest closing our sports or music schools.

There is still a return to this debate, but in this case we have examined the specific arrangements and have given more hours to private organizations. “

Rookies work more efficiently

The invisible battle between the two great basketball schools seems to be heating up.

Raising stars like Artūras Karnišovas, Rimantas Kaukėnas, Antanas Kavaliauskas, Angelė Rupšienė, Vida Beselienė, VKM is also proud of her current talent.

Brothers Lavrinovičiai and Jonas Valančiūnas, who crossed from Utena, improved the ERM a few years later, and when it merged with the Šarūnas Marčiulionas Academy, which ended its existence a few years ago, it considers Deividas Sirvydis, Marekas Blaževičius, Ąžuolis Tubelis and their Augustas Marel students. Augustas.

Nearly 1,500 children have been training at the ERM led by Vytautas Tupčiauskas since 2015.

SKM still can’t be proud of the trained stars as it was established just thirteen years ago. But SKM teams of all ages won three Student Basketball League titles last season, and this year they were awarded four before the pandemic.

More importantly, SKM has won the competitive battle for children, bringing together some 3.5 thousand of them, even though parents have to pay more money for their training.

“In 2020, SKM’s budget will reach 1.5 million. Municipal money will be less than 1%, or less than the municipality assigned for the 50th anniversary of the ERM. 2020 ERM will receive 964 thousand euros from the municipality. It will occupy children: SKM 3500; VKM 1300. The average cost of training is: SKM 35 Eur; VKM 20 Eur. Theoretically, if we transferred the budget from ERM to SKM, 3,500 children could practice sports for training sessions paying 4.75 euros per month. As in other sectors , this initiative is 4 times more effective. Not to mention the sports results, because SKM is the best basketball school in Lithuania, – said the founder of SKM A.Čerškus. “We are not asking for money that does not belong to us, we offer more use efficient by investing in the lack of sports infrastructure in Vilnius and we ask for the opportunity to use it on equal terms, without setting priorities. “

What would “Morning” be like?

A.Čerškus has no evidence, but suspects that the new room rental procedure in the Vilnius municipality is also in charge of the “Rytas” team.

Exactly a year ago, A.Bužinskas declared that the time had come to create “Rytas” to create the missing part of the pyramid. “Rytas” has subsidiary youth teams: NKL competes with “Perla” and “Rytas-2” playing in the Regional League, but the younger part of the chain is missing.

Thus, it was invented to establish the Rytas Academy, which would include the most talented 15-18 year old basketball players from both Vilnius basketball schools.

“We would see the Morning Academy as an umbrella for both schools. And how a club will create that umbrella, under the auspices of one of the basketball schools, or perhaps combining both, is already the task of the club. Our goal is that the club uses its knowledge and takes care of the education of the children from the beginning. That may not be the case that only the bosses are chosen. The maximum plan would be to combine everything in a single system. That the team of trained basketball players With Vilnius taxpayers’ money, they would no longer have to buy through agents, and young people would know their identity and clear address when they traveled the basketball stages from the beginning, “said A.Bužinskas last year.

Darius Gudelis, Rytas’ largest shareholder, asked A.Čerškus to prepare a project on how SKM could be integrated into the Vilnius basketball club system.

The project was presented and Rūtenis Paulauskas was proposed as the head of the new academy.

However, according to A.Čerkus, the negotiations did not start, and then he heard from reliable sources that “Rytas” is coordinating the foundations of his pyramid with the ERM.

It is said to be located in Pašilaičiai, where a complex of three gyms is located, and the new unit would be headed by Linas Kvedaravičius, a former member of the Vilnius Council and a former basketball player who was previously a representative of the municipality on the team. from Ryto.

A. Čerškas suspects that in this way Rytas could more easily assume the support of one million euros allocated to the ERM, which would contribute to the 1.2 million euros already allocated by the city. annual support for the Vilnius team.

A. Bužinskas, Chairman of the Board of Rytas, confirmed that the sports complex in Pašilaičiai, which will open its doors in winter, will probably be included in the ERM budget, as this is the intended purpose of the building.

But A.Bužinskas denied that “Rytas” has already chosen which basketball school to form an absolute union with.

“So far, the partners are both basketball schools. Without both, the Morning Pyramid would weaken.” Rytas “has cooperative agreements with both schools and continues,” explained A. Bužinskas. – The competition between the two schools is really. Maybe she could be healthier, I don’t know if she could comment on the personal conflicts between the principals of both schools.

In general, the system works. The best basketball players from both schools achieve the Ryto system. Naturally, sooner or later a joint decision must be made by Morning Academy. But it cannot arise on the basis of one school or another. They should be included in both. “

Expect a conversation at the round table.

Whether Vilnius will approve the new order should be announced on June 17. The project presented by A.Bužinskas will be evaluated by the council, which will meet in a monthly meeting.

At a lower price, ERM is apparently more affordable, but many parents also support the private side of SKM. Parents consult and collect signatures to keep groups in regular schools, as they are concerned that they may now be pushed to the more remote areas of Vilnius.

“I understand that a private school wants to earn money, but someone is putting a wheel on the wheel. But they did well. I don’t regret the money paid, ”said the mother of a 12-year-old basketball player visiting SKM.

Neringa Juškienė, director of the Association for Non-Formal Education for Children and Youth, will also speak with Vilnius Deputy Mayor Valdas Benkunskas on Thursday.

“We want to sit at the round table and find out,” said N. Juškienė. – To date, municipal officials have not contacted or coordinated with any sports school. No one has yet told us why the new arrangements would benefit the budgetary authorities. “