UKR - Melnychuk takes winning habit and smile home to Ukraine

KIEV (FIBA) - Victor MELNYCHUK smiles a lot.

He smiled last year when leading Portugal at EuroBasket 2007, where they were the biggest surprise at the tournament after knocking out Latvia to reaching the quarter-final round.

And he smiled when they walked off the court for the final time following a loss to Greece, when the crowd gave Portugal a standing ovation.

Now Melnychuk is smiling because he's back home in Ukraine, after accepting an offer to coach the national team there, and he is looking forward to steering them to big things as well.

He recently spoke to FIBA.Com.

FIBA: Welcome back to Ukraine, Coach Valentyn Melnychuk. How difficult was it to leave Portugal's national team, especially after their great performance in the past few years?
Valentyn Melnychuk: "It was difficult to leave not only because of the recent success, but also because I spent so much time there. I am leaving behind players that I watched grow up, numerous friends that I made. When I left Portugal for vacation, the president of their basketball federation had a feeling I was not coming back and he was not shocked when I told him about my plans in Ukraine. We both understood that staying would not benefit any of the parties and mutually terminated the contract. "

FIBA: Remind us again of your basketball history. You played the game, and then got into coaching?
Valentyn Melnychuk: "Yes, I played for my university team and then for the Lviv Army club, but suffered a very serious career-ending arm fracture at the age of 26. The coach of our team at that time was leaving and I was asked to take over. I was lucky the players, who I had been playing with, accepted me as a coach and made it easy for me at the early stages of my new career. "

FIBA:  Then what happened?
Valentyn Melnychuk: "Later, I went on to coach in Latvia, becoming the youngest USSR Higher League head coach at just 33. Then, before moving to Portugal, I worked in Kyiv Central Army Club, and in Damascus Army Club. I learned a lot coaching in the USSR Championship - the competition at that time was very high and the league was basically formed of half of the current European countries. This all allowed me to go to Portugal very well prepared. "

FIBA: Did you have any problems with communicating when you started coaching outside the USSR?
Valentyn Melnychuk: "I encountered huge language problems when I started coaching abroad. When I came to Syria, an army officer interpreted for me for a couple of days and later left me on my own. I was forced to transcribe Arabic words in Cyrillic, trying to memorize their meanings and, when my wife arrived and heard me converse in Arabic with our Syrian driver 6 months later, she was shocked. Luckily, I had Russian speaking kids on the teams I coached, who helped interpret during practices, but I still tried to use their services as seldom as possible. I think you miss half of a practice if you have to use an interpreter.  When I moved to Madeira, Portugal, I was extremely nervous during the first ever practice I had to conduct in English. I think I was sweating more than my players. Luckily, because the island is such a hot tourist spot, everyone spoke English and I had a chance to practice my conversational skills with virtually anywhere with anyone. I spent two years like that and then decided to learn Portuguese, going through all the hassle one more time."

FIBA: How did leaving Ukraine and coaching in Portugal change you as a coach, and a person?
Valentyn Melnychuk: "Oh, it changed me a lot! Portugal presented a lot of opportunities to grow as a coach -they had clinics for us three times a year. I also used to spend a lot of time in Spain, making friends with local coaches, attending their practices. Also, I had been very emotional and loud coaching the Army teams in the USSR and now, looking back, I think I would have had a better chance to get higher results if I had been as calm as I am now."

FIBA: How will you handle your new duties?
Valentyn Melnychuk: "I will visit all Superleague clubs, scout. I will not only be focusing on their skills - their work ethics and their personalities are also very important."

FIBA: It's tough in Europe now, with so many good teams, but you proved with Portugal that anything is possible.
Valentyn Melnychuk: "I am sure that European basketball is the strongest in the World right now and the most recent Word Championships prove that - seven of the top nine teams were from Europe. The level of all teams is so high now, that it is impossible to have a wish list of teams you would want to be drawn into the same group with. Therefore, our main goal will be to advance into the EuroBasket 2009. We need to select the right coaching staff to create a positive environment to make the players want to play for the national team. We should make sure their good performances for the team will allow them to be noticed by top clubs, which will offer them better contracts. Once we make it to EuroBasket, we will be able to see what our realistic long-term plans are."

FIBA: Coach Melnychuk, looking back at your career, has there been one person you have looked up to or someone who has had a major impact for you?
Valentyn Melnychuk: "Not really, I can't pick one person. I learned a lot from coaches I worked with, but in addition to that I learned from players - I was fortunate to have coached six Olympic Champions: Rimas Kurtinaitis, Victor Pankrashkin, Alexander Belostenniy, Yevgeniy Kovalenko, Valeriy Govorov, and Ivan Yedeshko. I also coached big-name Ukrainian players Alexander Salnikov and Victor Berezhnoi."

FIBA: "It's been great catching up with you again, Coach Melnychuk, and best of luck in the coming months.
Valentyn Melnychuk: Thank you and good luck to you!

FIBA