Since September 2020, Mikus Sokolovs has been opening the doors of the gym at Madona Secondary School as a sports teacher. But once, he opened those same doors as a student – running to PE class and staying a little longer afterwards to play, practise and simply be in the place where basketball gradually became his passion.
“I’ve come full circle – I’m now back where I started,” he says.
He began working at the school after the large-scale renovation of the gym in 2020, implemented with support from the European Union Structural Funds.
A Life Centered Around Sport
Mikus’s daily life revolves around sport – both in and outside school. At Madona Secondary School, he teaches sports and leads a basketball club. At the Madona Children and Youth Sports School, he works as a basketball coach. At the same time, Mikus plays professional basketball for the local team “BK Madona/BJSS” and regularly competes in the Regional Basketball League.
In summer, he is actively involved in organising sports camps, where children have the opportunity to train and stay active throughout the season – including at the Christian camp centre “Ērgļa spārni”, which hosts various camps for different age groups.
Mikus clearly remembers how it all began:
“When I was 10, basketball coach Agnis Beķeris came into our classroom and invited us to join a basketball club. Since then, basketball has been part of my everyday life – and it still is.”
In his view, this is a powerful example of a teacher’s influence: sometimes a single invitation can shape a child’s life.
From Player to Professional
While studying at Gulbene Secondary School, basketball was no longer just an after-school activity – it became his profession and his source of income for 11 years. One of his most vivid memories is from 2007, when, as a member of Latvia’s U18 national team, he won a medal at the European Championship.
“When I represented Latvia’s U18 basketball team, we won our country’s first-ever medal at the European Championship – and it was bronze,” he recalls.
In 2011, Mikus joined the basketball club “Biznesa augstskola Turība” at Turība University. However, as he emphasises, there was a clear condition: if you play, you must also study. Training sessions and games went hand in hand with his academic work, and in 2015 he earned a Professional Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.
Two years after graduating, Mikus realised that the business environment was not his true calling. He felt a strong desire to work with children – to give them the same opportunity he had once received. In 2019, he obtained a basketball coach certificate from the Sports Education Agency, and in 2020 he completed pedagogical courses at the University of Latvia, opening the door to a teaching career. Soon after, he began working at Madona Secondary School – returning to his own school, this time as a sports teacher.
Encouraging Confidence and Courage
When speaking about PE lessons, Mikus sees a clear difference between “then” and “now”.
“We had strict performance standards – if you met the required result, you received a positive grade,” he explains.
Today, as a teacher, he places greater emphasis on skill development, adapting lesson plans to each student’s level, and providing positive feedback. His goal is simple: that students leave class with rosy cheeks and a sense of accomplishment.
“It’s important to me that students dare to try, because only by doing can you achieve something,” Mikus emphasises.
He puts this belief into practice. For example, if a student repeatedly says, “I can’t do it” during a skipping-rope exercise, Mikus encourages them to practise quietly for a few minutes away from classmates’ eyes. Often, that is when success comes – and with it, confidence. In his opinion, the biggest obstacle is often not strength or ability, but psychological barriers and fear of judgment.
These moments – when a child moves from “I don’t want to” or “I can’t” to “I’ll try” – give him the greatest satisfaction. He wants children to become more confident, to learn to cooperate and support one another. Sometimes the most important thing is simply being present – listening and offering encouragement at the right moment.
Working with children has taught Mikus to set aside a professional athlete’s mindset and accept that students are not professionals.
“Children are very different – each perceives the world differently and understands the same task in their own way. You can’t measure everyone by the same standard,” he says, emphasising the importance of an individual approach.
A Modern Environment for Active Learning
According to Mikus, a well-organised environment also plays an essential role in maintaining a sporting spirit at school. The old gym at Madona Secondary School never stopped him personally – as he jokes, he trained happily and, if necessary, would even wash the floor before a game to prevent slipping. However, the recently renovated gym and outdoor stadium are an invaluable investment in students: a modern and safe environment provides additional motivation, security and inspiration to stay active.
To future sports teachers, Mikus offers simple advice: dare to turn problems into challenges and opportunities, seek advice from colleagues and continuously improve yourself.
Perhaps that is why his “life circle” continues to move forward – with children in the gym, a basketball in hand, and one simple sentence that can sometimes change everything:
Challenge yourself – and give it a try.
During the 2014–2020 EU Funds planning period, under the Operational Programme “Growth and Employment”, Specific Objective 8.1.2 “To improve the learning environment of general education institutions”, municipalities implemented projects to modernise school infrastructure and equipment – including sports infrastructure – to provide students with safer, more modern and more comprehensive opportunities for learning and physical activity.
EU investments in Latvia’s school infrastructure are continuing in the 2021–2027 planning period. The measure “Provision of Educational Institutions for the High-Quality Implementation of the Updated General Education Curriculum at Primary and Secondary Levels” aims to create a modern, safe and curriculum-aligned learning environment. Investments focus on improving schools’ material and technical base, infrastructure and educational equipment to ensure high-quality and equitable implementation of the updated curriculum across all Latvian educational institutions.
The selection of project applicants has been completed, and work has begun on preparing project proposals. Municipalities, in cooperation with schools, must develop high-quality project concepts within the allocated funding to ensure that European Union investments are transformed into modern, safe and student-centred learning environments.
This story was produced with the support of the European Union Funds.
