#Sam #chose #volleyball #reached #world #hes #years
You were born on May 12, 2004. Unlike most other future athletes, there is no one in our family who was involved in any competitive activity.
As a boy, naturally, you get carried away by football. However, a friend takes you with him to the volleyball hall. In mid-2023, he was selected as one of the two best central blockers at the U-21 World Cup, which took place in Bahrain.
And then you leave the club that built you as a volleyball player and a person to take the next step – continuing your education and sports development at the American University “Long Beach”.
In short, this is the story of Lazar Buchkov. The past year has been eventful for the lovable, bright-eyed lad, but his inclusion in the ideal squad for the World Youth Championship really deserves credit. However, it is not often that a Bulgarian is named individually as the best in a team sport.
In December, Buchkov briefly returned to Bulgaria. Although he is on vacation, the nearly two-meter-tall Lazar found time to train with one of the “blue” teams in the “Levski Sofia” hall and to spend time talking with “24 Chasa”.
“I really got into volleyball by accident. There are no athletes in my family. Like any little boy
I also first dreamed of becoming a football player
From an early age, however, I was taller than my peers.
A classmate of mine started practicing volleyball. Along with him, I also decided to enroll, but I didn’t think anything serious at the time. I just wanted to move. That’s how I started in volleyball. No one forced me”, says Lazar.
The center scores through Nikolay Nikolov.
Typical of most teenagers in volleyball, the boy expresses himself as quite mature for his age and composed. “Over time, it has become a cliché that volleyball is an intelligent sport. This is one of the reasons why volleyball grabbed me. Over time, it became difficult for me to imagine life without volleyball”, says the center.
Buchkov began training at the “Stoychev-Kaziyski” BA and from there he moved to “Levski” to go through all age groups and establish himself as a starter in the men’s team only at the age of 18. It was in the “blue” club that Lazar became clearly volleyball is his thing and he will dedicate himself to it.
“After moving to Levski, we became very close with Alex Nikolov. We pushed each other, figuratively speaking, to go up. And my other peers and I are good friends and we get along great.
Thanks to the coaches, teammates and Levski as a club in general, I am what I am today. I have, of course, also had very difficult moments. However, I later realized that it was they who developed me and made me better. Stress makes you grow, and it made me fight. That is why I am very grateful to “Levski”, says Buchkov.
The thing that he felt in the “blue” club and that made a strong impression on him is that the coaches really invest in you with their work and
they really care what comes out of you
Even if you don’t become a very good volleyball player, the idea is to shape you into a better person as possible.
With the best in position award in the junior finals last season.
In the 2022/2023 season, Buchkov fully entered men’s volleyball. He was one of the starting centers of “Levski”, which reached the bronze medals, at the same time, Lazar and his peers won the state championship for athletes under 20 years old.
“The transition to men’s volleyball was not easy at all. It really started from last season, when I was not a starter, but I played relatively often. Well, at the beginning it was quite difficult, but with most of the minutes I started to play around and get used to participating in matches in which tension prevails.
The bronze medal is my first in men’s volleyball. It’s always nice to receive some kind of reward for the work you’ve put in,” admits Buchkov.
After the end of last season, it became clear that he was following the path of his friend Alex Nikolov. He also moved from his native “Levski” to “Long Beach” at the age of 18. The eldest son of the legend, Vladimir Nikolov, stayed only one campaign in the USA.
Alex played very strong games overseas, became the #1 player of the year in the college championship, and thus the award was won for the first time in history by a rookie. Nikolov and “Long Beach” reached the silver medals, and then he was attracted by the Italian giant “Cucine Lube” (Civitanova).
“Even when Alex left, it was understood that I could follow him. To be honest, I was a bit skeptical at the time. At a later stage, the university itself contacted me. Alex had only told me good things about Long Beach and that tipped the scales in favor of the States. I decided to go and try something new”, reveals the center.
Lazarus on the attack
Before heading to Long Beach, however, he and the U21 nationals had the aforementioned Bahrain World Cup ahead of them. In the previous years, this formation under the leadership of Martin Stoev won a number of honors at a high level, with the silver medals from the World U-19 and the bronze medals from the European U-20 to be noted.
Already at the head of the Italian specialist Andrea Buratini, the youth of Bulgaria performed strongly again
and showed off the bronze medals
in Bahrain.
“Third in the world is no small success. Before the World Cup, we talked to each other that we could become the first, to play in the final. However, bronze also means a decent performance for our team. And we followed the tradition of taking medals.
Being in the ideal team at the World Cup motivated me even more to work, because my hard work was rewarded”, commented Buchkov.
Lazar and the other boys from the formation in question have been together every summer for 5 years now. He is adamant that in that time they have become more than a team. Everyone is friends outside the gym. According to Buchkov, it is the creation of this cohesive team that is to blame for the team’s success.
Training in Long Beach
“Not only are we friends, but our girlfriends are also friends”, gives another example of the closeness in the Lazar team. Now that he is in the US, he will be separated from his girlfriend, but he knows that everything requires sacrifices.
Buchkov has been able to acclimatize to the new environment on American soil much faster than he expected. The reason for this is that his new teammates and fellow students very quickly accepted him and made him feel like one of them.
“It was easier to get into their regime than I thought, which worked out well. If I have to be honest, maybe one idea I had underestimated volleyball in America because it is collegiate and not professional. However, the level turned out to be high.
We put a lot of emphasis on volleyball, but at the same time, learning must go on. As they say there – first you are a student, then an athlete. To play we need to have good grades. That’s politics. Every day we train at once for 3 hours, and then we also do fitness,
to be able to combine things with learning
That’s what’s different.
My daily life is generally filled from – to. I have free time at the weekend. I try to tour as much as I can. It’s a totally different world there, and that’s why I’m curious to see as many places as possible”, says Lazar.
After the first year at the university, which is general education, he has to profile himself and is aware of what he will focus on – information systems.
It is difficult for Buchkov to predict whether he will stay 4 years in “Long Beach” or, like Alex, he will return to Europe to play volleyball at an even higher level. As in most sports, a situation may arise that requires reflection.
After his first year in America, Lazar will gather with friends and teammates from the “blue” school. In 2024, the distributor Simeon Nikolov and the greeter Alexander Kandev will follow him to “Long Beach”. He now looks forward to them. He and Moni have been teammates for almost the entire time they have been practicing volleyball.
“I am waiting for them to form a Bulgarian brigade. Otherwise, I really feel very welcome in the team. Everyone is friendly. There are other foreigners. My roommate is from Belarus”, says Buchkov.
Because of his departure to the USA, he missed the greatest success of “Levski” in the last 10 years. The “Blues” won the Super Cup of Bulgaria after a dramatic 3:2 over “Heber”.
“I was very happy. I grew up with this team. I was part of it in winning the bronze medals in the championship. I didn’t have any thoughts of leaving and not being a part of this triumph. I was really happy for the boys”, admits Lazar.
After Christmas he returned to the US. On Dec. 31, he has a stint with Long Beach, and then the college season begins in January.
After the dynamic 2023, the new year 2024 will start for Lazar Buchkov. Through it, the center from the “blue” school will continue to pursue his goals in volleyball, which became an invariable part of his life precisely thanks to “Levski”. One of them is
to be called up to the men’s national team
It seems a logical next step in the career of the boy who started playing volleyball without being guided by anyone.
