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This Betsafe-LKL season will be remembered by the basketball community as one of the most challenging and demanding seasons due to the global pandemic.
Utena Juventus became the first Lithuanian team to be seriously affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
October 27 With the news of two COVID-19 cases at the club, the rest of the team had to be investigated, and two days later it was clear that up to nine basketball players and two staff members had contracted the disease.
For these reasons, the Betsafe-LKL championship schedule had to be adjusted, and Utena’s people were forced to stop team training and spend days in self-isolation.
The Utena Club striker became one of the footballers who directly suffered the inconveniences caused by the coronavirus. Žygimantas Skučas. The 28-year-old basketball player was one of the first to leave the lineup and lock himself at home to recover and prevent the virus from spreading nearby.
A little later, a rapidly improving situation was reported at the Utena and Ž club.
Ž. Skučas spoke to LKL.lt about last week’s events at the Juventus club.
– Which approach to the pandemic do you trust this season?
– When we played in the Hoptrans 3×3 tournament in the summer, it was already thought that we were at risk of getting infected. In contact with players who interact with their family and friends, there are also fans who want to hit them with the hand or take a photo.
You are in a high-risk group and everything happens: this is your job, you have nothing to choose from. When we started the season, there were some restrictions already in place, but people like to get around them. You will come to terms with that, but you are young and just hope you don’t infect your parents or grandparents.
– What was it like the day you found out you were infected with COVID-19?
– We immediately fell ill with my wife, the day after the game with Lietkabelis. I informed the doctors on Monday that we were ill, she replied that another friend on the team was also ill. ‘Cause we went nowhere naked and we did not bite, we were calm at home, we thought it was silly, there would be another virus, and maybe the flu.
If you’re sick, you can’t train, so we went to investigate and got an answer. Everything is well now. Since teammates were the people we had contact with, they also needed research. We reconciled that we would probably still have to get infected and sick, and now is the time.
– Didn’t the team panic when they found out that there were many people infected with COVID-19?
– All teams are at risk, especially those traveling in Europe. The panic did not occur, it was in March or April when there was still uncertainty. Now we are used to that thought and situation, we know that the risk of a virus contributes to the risk of injury, which is natural. Nobody panicked, some were stronger, some less, but none were connected to the devices, so it seems that everything will end well so far.
– How was the sports life of the team during the period of self-isolation? How did you spend your days yourself?
– Those who are not sick, received sports programs, carried out injury prevention. We gave the dog to the parents at a distance and did not go anywhere. We have a little boy, we need to play with him, go to eat or sit in science, watch a movie. What an ordinary person would do, we are the same.
– Perhaps before contracting the virus, you had other beliefs that have recently been turned upside down?
– I had no other beliefs, I don’t see a conspiracy theory in this situation. It is very convenient to invent this kind of thing online, and it is difficult to deny it, because people are firmly convinced of its truth. There are no such people in my environment, we are people of science, logic. Sure, you can cheat, but not with such stupid things.
When I went to the store in March, I went shopping for two weeks and ten days. We didn’t go anywhere, then we lived in quarantine, now we don’t even guide the dog, we don’t go out at all. We knew what awaited us, what would be the routine and the difficulties. It is difficult to be at home, especially when you are an active and athletic person, but everyone has to make some sacrifices because we see people on television who, due to their lack of education, are deceived and hurt others.
– It has become clear that there will be no spectators in the Betsafe-LKL stadiums for some time. What does this change for your team?
– It is clear that it will not benefit financially or emotionally. Public support in our arena has always been felt, maybe this year it was a muffler, but we still have our fan club, the Red Devils, who did most of the work as much as has been allowed so far.
It will take away some of the atmosphere, but since we have a lot of experienced basketball players on our team, we are more relaxed and not angry, we like to joke around so we start ourselves. We will take care of that, maybe the legionnaires are different, but they are ordered and motivated. It won’t be more fun to play in an empty arena, but I don’t think it will hurt the results.
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