This year 40 beginner sportsmen from different countries arrived to take personal classes from Vladislav Tretiak and his colleagues – Russia, Belarus, Germany, Japan, Spain and Lithuania. Like every year, the classes were held with the participation of boys from Latvia – a recognised ice hockey country, where much attention is devoted to the preparation of young professionals in this sport.
Latvia is currently the only place where Vladislav Tretiak arrives in person to conduct training at the School of Goaltending. Thus, these master classes are a unique opportunity to receive knowledge and skills from this recognised master. Many participants of the master classes do not miss a single training camp and arrive here regularly in order to improve their technique and get invaluable experience. 
Every year, together with Vladislav Tretiak, recognised masters of Latvian ice hockey Andrejs Zagars and Sergey Naumov give classes at the School of Goaltending. This year, for the first time, Russian coaches joined them – the ex-goaltender of the National Team of Russia Egor Podomatsky and a coach of goaltenders of the Youth Team of Russia Vladimir Kulik. As Andrejs Zagars noted, Russian colleagues highly evaluated the high professional level of master classes held in Latvia and plan to come here again next year.
In contrast to the previous period, this summer a new trend appeared at the School of Goaltending. Together with very young boys, taking their first steps in sport, 10 young professionals were training, mostly players of the Russian Youth Hockey League.
“Work with young professionals has its own specific requirements,” says Andrejs Zagars, “They already have certain experience, and we helped them to work on subtleties and nuances, replied to their questions and were even debating about some aspects. It was very interesting for us, the coaches, and for the boys, who very much liked the friendly atmosphere of our training and the possibility to discuss techniques and specific aspects of the game which are very important for their future success.”
Let us note that some young trainees of the School of Goaltending of earlier periods have already achieved impressive results. For example, a Russian sportsman Maksim Sidorov, who participated in earlier master classes, is now a goaltender of the Youth Hockey League and plays for Locomotive.
Among the youngest participants, apart from the boys from Europe, young sportsmen from Japan were training – they arrive to Latvia regularly and work excellently in training. There were also two girls – from Latvia and Russia, who were getting ready to defend the honour of the National women’s teams of these countries.
And next year the organisers of the master classes also expect students from China. The Chinese Hockey Club has been recently accepted to the CHL, and young players from this country have also expressed interest in the possibility of having personal training from Vladislav Tretiak and his colleagues.
As usual, the schedule of the sports camp participants has been intensive, training for several hours daily. Training was held both in an indoor rink and in the open air, on the coast of the Baltic Sea.
Vladislav Tretiak is an outstanding Russian hockey player, goaltender, a state and political figure. From 1969 to 1984 he was a goalkeeper of CSKA and the USSR national team. He has played at 482 hockey matches of the USSR Championships, 117 matches of World Championships and Olympic Games and 11 matches of the Canada Cup. The International Ice Hockey Federation has recognised Vladislav Tretiak to be one of the greatest ice hockey players of the 20 th century. He was the first European named in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto in 1997. At present, Vladislav Tretiak is the President of the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia, member of the State Duma Committee for Physical Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs. In 2014 Vladislav Tretiak, together with outstanding figure skater Irina Rodnina, lit the Olympic flame at the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. Eleonora Gailisha Mass Media and Public Relations
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