If beach volleyball were a computer game, one might imagine the players as the figures moving on the screen. However, unlike the gamer controlling the action in indoor volleyball, the beach volleyball coach is perhaps better compared to the programmer who writes the code beforehand. There`s a notable distinction between coaching indoor and beach volleyball. To help fans understand this difference and gain deeper insight into the dedicated, often unsung work of these mentors in the sand directly from experienced professionals, my “Secrets of Coaching Success” series aims to interview accomplished European beach volleyball coaches to learn how they achieve success.
Aigars Birzulis
Following perspectives shared by several top indoor volleyball coaches, this installment introduces my second beach volleyball guest: Aigars Birzulis, a specialist from Latvia. He famously coached Tina Graudina & Anastasija Samoilova to claim the continental title at the 2022 CEV European Championship in Munich. That same year, he guided Latvia’s women’s national team to secure a bronze medal at the inaugural CEV BeachVolley Nations Cup 2022 held in Vienna.
Aigars was born approximately 58 years ago, during the time Latvia was part of the Soviet Union. He participated in indoor volleyball during his youth and even won a medal at the USSR Junior Championship.
His professional career began in the mid-1980s as a coach and sports methodologist. He coached various indoor volleyball clubs across Latvia. In 2005, the team he led, Incukalns/LU, won the national championship title.
For many years, Birzulis also served as head coach for Latvia’s junior and youth indoor national teams. Notably, he steered the Men`s U21 team to an eighth-place finish at the 1997 FIVB Volleyball World Championship. This role, in a way, served as a crucial stepping stone toward his eventual career coaching beach volleyball.
To maintain his indoor players` fitness, he incorporated beach volleyball practice during the summer months. A pivotal moment occurred in 1996 at the inaugural CEV U20 Beach Volleyball European Championships held in Jurmala. Two of his men’s duos achieved podium finishes: Austris Stalls & Armins Vensbergs earned gold, while Aldis Jaunzeikars & Klavs Zalkalns secured bronze. This event formally marked the start of his coaching career on the sand.
Further success in age-category beach volleyball quickly followed. From 2003 to 2011, teams coached by Birzulis secured an additional six continental medals at various European age-group championships. This included U18 gold for Janis Peda & Toms Smedins in 2003 and U20 gold for Toms Smedins & Janis Smedins in 2005.
In 2008, Aigars Birzulis completed his volleyball coaching degree at the Latvian Academy of Sports Education. Before the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, he spent three months working with Latvian Olympic hopefuls Martins Plavins & Aleksandrs Samoilovs.
His first major international breakthrough at the senior level arrived with Martins Plavins & Janis Smedins, who clinched bronze at the 2010 European Championship in Berlin. They built on this success with a fourth-place finish at the 2011 FIVB World Championship in Rome and, most significantly, captured an Olympic bronze medal at the London 2012 Games. Birzulis also coached Martins Plavins & Haralds Regza to a memorable gold medal at the Baku 2015 European Games.
Birzulis celebrating the London 2012 Olympic bronze with Plavins & Smedins
Between 2014 and 2016, Birzulis continued his success by coaching Latvian age-category women’s teams to three international medals. These included a U17 World Championship bronze with Tina Graudina & Linda Gramberga in 2014, a U18 European Championship title with Tina Graudina & Paula Neciporuka in 2015, and a U22 European Championship title with Tina Graudina & Anastasija Kravcenoka in 2016.
Birzulis coached in Finland from 2017 to 2020. Since 2021, he has been involved in a development project by the FIVB, coaching youth girls’ teams in Lithuania.
In August 2022, the Latvian federation asked him to take responsibility for the women’s teams participating in the season`s two most important CEV events. At the inaugural Nations Cup in Vienna, Birzulis successfully guided the national team, comprising Anastasija Kravcenoka, Anete Namike, Tina Graudina, and Varvara Brailko, to bronze medals. Following that, under his guidance, Anastasija & Tina achieved victory at EuroBeachVolley in Munich, winning all six of their matches and losing only a single set throughout the tournament (in the final).
At the 2022 CEV Nations Cup with the Latvian women’s national team
In recognition of his significant achievements as a coach, Aigars Birzulis was honored with the title of Cavalier of the Order of Three Stars, Latvia’s highest state award granted for special merits.
Since July 2020, Aigars Birzulis has also been coaching at the sports center located in the town of Marupe, situated near Riga.
During his leisure time, the coach enjoys recreational activities such as fishing and gathering mushrooms and berries in nature.
Jasper Thornfield 
Finley Blackwood