Dynamo (basketball club, Kursk)

The history of the club began in 1994, when the women's basketball team Svetlana was created in Kursk, which was named after its general sponsor, the construction company of the same name. The first trainer of Svetlana was Vadim Birdus, who had previously trained the Rosich girls team in the Children and Youth Sports School-5 in Kursk ^[1] .

In the 1996-1997 season, the Svetlana club, under the leadership of the new coach Oleg Sgonnikov, managed to get out of the First League to the Higher. In 1997, the team became subordinate to the Internal Affairs Directorate in the Kursk Region and was renamed Dynamo (Kursk). Over the next two seasons (1997/1998 and 1998/1999), Dynamo (Kursk) passed both echelons of the Premier League: “B” and “A”, having won 41 victories in 42 matches, and received the right to play in the Super League , where they made their debut in the 1999-2000 season . According to the results of this season, the Kursk club took 6th place among the 12 strongest Russian teams ^[1] .

The following 2 seasons ( 2000/2001 and 2001/2002 ) Dynamo maintained its position in the Super League, taking 7th place in the 2000/2001 season and 6th in the next (2001/2002). The same period marked the beginning of the team’s performance in the European Ronchetti Cup and the invitation to the club of the first legionnaires: Maymeti Stolworth from the USA and Olavunmi Ogunsola from Nigeria ^[1] .

In 2003, on the basis of Dynamo (Kursk), under the guidance of the team's coach O. E. Sgonnikov, the Russian student basketball team was trained for the Summer Universiade 2003 , and as a result won bronze medals at the competitions in Daegu ( South Korea ). Olga Vezhova, Elena Grishina, Natalya Gvozdeva, Anastasia Dovidovich, Natalya Melentyeva and Irina Storozheva took part in the competition from the Dynamo Kursk. In the Super League in the 2002/2003 season, according to the results of the championship, Dynamo was on the 10th line of the tournament table out of 11 possible. In the 2003/2004 season, the Kursk team completely finished last in the Super League. Fortunately for the club, this season the team that finished last did not drop out of Super League “A”, due to which Dynamo remained in this division ^[1] .

In 2004, A. S. Zubarev became president of the club, V. M. Kaukin became executive director, and Alexey Ryschenkov, who had previously coached the men's basketball team from the city of Khimki, replaced Oleg Sgonnikov, who transferred to the Baltic Star BC, as executive director. In the 2004/2005 season , Dynamo (Kursk) again climbed to 6th place at the end of the year, but after the end of the season the new head coach left the club. His place was taken by the Latvian specialist Armand Kraulins, who also soon left the post of head coach after a series of unsuccessful performances of the team; after that, the coaching function was transferred to the tandem of Victoria Sgonnikova - Sergey Popov, under whose leadership Dynamo managed to achieve only 7th place in the Super League in the 2005/2006 season ^[1] .

In the 2006/2007 season, Alexander Kovalev took the post of head coach, but he also left the team before the end of the season, and Victoria Sgonnikova and Sergey Popov began to perform coaching functions again. Dynamo managed to get into the playoffs from seventh place in the regular championship, and according to the results of the playoffs, the team took 5th place ^[1] .

The preparation of the Dynamo basketball team (Kursk) for the 2007/2008 season was led by the next new head coach Anatoly Myshkin . In the first half of the season, the club performed brilliantly in the domestic and European arenas, but later a continuous series of setbacks began. For some time, Sgonnikova and Popov again came to replace the dismissed Myshkin, and in March 2008, the Lithuanian Algirdas Paulauskas was appointed head coach. Championship of the country Dynamo finished only in seventh place ^[1] .

In the 2008/2009 season, the president of the basketball club is Alexander Frantsevich Yager. Coach Algirdas Paulauskas made a significant restructuring in the team: the team captain Natalya Vedlya, Natalya Gvozdeva, Tatyana Skidan left the team, and foreign players were invited to the vacant seats: Maria Erich ( Serbia ), Sandra Valužite ( Lithuania ), Irena Vizbarienė (Lithuania), Nikita Bell (USA). Dynamo Russia finished the championship again in seventh place, but for the first time in the European Cup it reached the semifinals , in which it lost to the Turkish winner of the European tournament Galatasaray ^[1] .

After the team was strengthened in the 2009/2010 season by foreign legionaries (Donnett Michelle Snow (USA), Gillian Robbins (USA), Aushra Bibayte (Lithuania)) and Natalya Gvozdeva returned to Kursk for the first time, 4th place in the Russian championship, and in the European Cup for the second time in a row it made it to the semifinals, where it twice lost to the Greek Athenaikos ^[1] .

In the 2010/2011 season, the team again took 4th place in the Russian championship.

In the 2011/2012 season, the Lithuanian Alfredas Vainauskas became the head coach of Dynamo. In the regular season of the Premier League, the team climbed to third place, and again took 4th place in the playoffs. Dynamo achieved unprecedented success this season in the FIBA ​​European Cup , defeating the Turkish Kayseri Sekspor in the final and becoming the winner of the Cup ^{[1] [2]} .

For the fourth time in a row, the Kursk club took the fourth place in the Russian championship for the fourth time in a row, losing in the semifinals of the playoffs of the UMMC (0-2 in the series with 2 wins), and in the match for 3rd place in the Orenburg Nadezhda ( 0-3 in the series to 3 wins).

In the 2013/2014 season, the team seriously updated its roster. The team came star American Simon Augustus and the equally famous Candice Dupree and Rebecca Brunson . The club was replenished with the eminent basketball player Shay Doron , the leader of the Serbian national team Yelena Milovanovic and the leader of the women's national basketball team of Ukraine Alexandra Kurasova . After three consecutive defeats in the Russian Championship, the team left the head coach Alfredas Vainauskas. The club was headed by American specialist Bo Overton , who was able to win only the European Cup silver with the team, losing in the final to Dynamo Moscow (65:97, 85:61). After a while, Overton left the post of Dynamo head coach, and the club was temporarily headed by Helen Shakirova , who won the first medals with the team in the Russian Championship (in the series for 3rd place, revenge was taken for defeat in the European Cup finals in Moscow Dynamo) (85:83, 91:84, 84:69)).

In the 2014/2015 season , famous players Nnemkadi Ogvumike , Ishil Alben , Anete Jekabsone , Evgenia Belyakova and Irina Osipova joined the team. According to the results of the regular season, Dynamo took the 2nd place. In the 1/4 finals, Yenisei was beaten (98:63, 85:58), while in the semifinals in the decisive 3rd game and in the series with 2 wins, Nadezhda was stronger (57:66 and 1-2 in the series ) In a series of up to 3 victories for the championship bronze medals and access to the Euroleague, Sparta & K (3-0) was beaten.

In the 2014/2015 Russian Cup , in which legionnaires could not take part for the first time in history, the Kursk Dynamo under the leadership of Gundars Vetra won gold medals, having beaten Sparta & K with a score of 68:49 in the Four Finals in Orenburg. Dynamo, which won this trophy for the first time in its history, became the 3rd club-owner of the Russian Cup after CSKA (Moscow) and UMMC (Yekaterinburg) . In addition to the gold medals of individual prizes, basketball players of the Kursk club were awarded:

Epifanny Prince - the best point guard of the Final Four;

Evgenia Belyakova - the best light forward of the Final Four;

Irina Osipova - MVP of the Final Four.

In the Euroleague 2014/2015, the Kursk Dynamo reached the Final Four for the first time in Prague, but lost in the semifinals to the Yekaterinburg UMMC with a score of 70:81. In the match for 3rd place, the Istanbul Fenerbahçe 67:58 was beaten. Thus, for the first time, the Kursk club was among the three best clubs in Europe, winning bronze medals.

Kursk Dynamo-DUBL - Champion of Russia 2014/2015.

Kursk Dynamo-2 - the winner of the youth regular championship of Russia 2014-2015

In the 2015/2016 season, the team retained its leaders, such as Simon Augustus , Nnemkadi Ogvumike , Epifania Prince . Legionnaires Elena Milovanovic and Ishil Alben left the club, team captain Yevgenia Belyakova moved to the UMMC , and due to a serious injury, the main point guard, Epifania Prince, missed almost the entire season. Dynamo was strengthened by the defender of the Swedish national team Frida Eldebrink , the French national team leader Enden Miyem and the American with a Belarusian passport Lindsay Harding . In the Euroleague failed to repeat the result of last year. At the 1/4 final stage, Dynamo (Kursk) is inferior to Nadezhda (Orenburg) (68:78, 70:73) and does not reach the Final Four. After a series of setbacks, head coach Gundars Vetra leaves the team. Assistant Martins Siebarts has been appointed as the new head coach.

Dynamo-PHARM is the winner of the Russian Super League.

In the 2016/2017 season, the team significantly updated its roster. The well-known players Anete Jekabsone , Irina Osipova , Endene Miyem and three-time Olympic champion Simon Augustus left Dynamo. In May 2016, a contract was announced with Lucas Mondela , who is the head coach of the Spanish women's team. The team was joined by US player Angel McCatry , the most talented center of Europe, Maria Vadeeva , as well as Helena Siak , Anna Cruz , Alyona Kirillova, Victoria Medvedeva and Veronika Dorosheva.

•   Euroleague Winner 2016/17
•   Winner of the European Cup 2011/12
•   Cup Winner 2014/15 , 2015/16
•   Silver medalist of the Euroleague 2018/19
•   Silver medalist of the European Cup : 2014
•   Euroleague bronze medalist: 2014/15
•   Russian Championship bronze medalist: 2014 , 2015 , 2016

•   Lucas Mondelo - Head Coach
•   Cesar Ruperes - Assistant Trainer
•   Fernandez Garcia - assistant coach
•   Callou Korstin - OFP Trainer

•   Alexander Yager - President
•   Victoria Sgonnikova - Executive Director
•   Evgeny Sgonnikov - club development director
•   Dmitry Zolin - team leader
•   Elena Barkova - CFO

Come

• Michelle Snow
• Simon Augustus
• Candice Dupree
• Rebecca Brunson
• Temika Johnson
• Anete Jekabsone-Jogota
• Aushra Bimbayte
• Elena Grishina
• Natalia Vodopyanova
• Irina Osipova

• Official site
• Blog of the Legend of Kursk BC Dynamo
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