that we have come this way together and we will go through much more, boss!

Today Rafael Khabibullin turns 60 years old. Usually on such dates it is customary to compose panegyrics and sum up. But it's not all about him.: does not like panegyrics, not going to sum up. That's why…

… Young Rafael has excellent prospects in the oil industry, his father Talgat Khabibullin was a star (Yes, then the stars were the people of labor) in the constellation Surgutneftegaz of the middle of the last century. But the younger Khabibullin chose volleyball once and for all ...

... Studied at the famous MOGIFK in Malakhovka, in the same stream with Yaroslav Antonov. due to poor eyesight (lenses didn't exist back then.) playing career had to be interrupted. He returned to Surgut as a coach for the Youth Sports School ...

... Took under the wing of the clumsy fifth-grader Stas Dineikin: persuaded parents to entrust their son, ran to school - talked to teachers, took to competitions with seniors. When the country began to fall apart, organized individual training, burned, protected, brought up ...

... In the mid-90s, he came up with the format of the factory team: all players worked for ZSK, trained and went to competitions in their spare time. So "Gazovik-ZSK" entered the major league "A", becoming then a professional club, and Rafael Talgatovich still remembers, how he went by shuttle to Brest for jeans, to earn the first money for the team...

… mid-nineties, winter, frost, Saturday, early morning. I, editor-in-chief of the city newspaper, sleep after a hard week. A phone call wakes up - "Come out, I'll drive through 10 minutes!». There is already a green UAZ in the yard, driven by Rafael Talgatovich. Right here, in UAZ, emotionally talks about his team, shows photo, draws perspectives. What is characteristic - everything came true. Interesting, no phone, Khabibullin did not know my address, I just moved into a new apartment...

... Coaching "duel" with Pavel Borsch and his "Ray". Teams synchronously advance to the major league "A", then to Superleague. There in the first season, in 2003, "Ray" fifth, we are the sixth. Twenty years have begun in the best league in the world...

… Volleyball boom in Surgut. Seats for Gazprom-Ugra matches must be taken two hours before the start, and that's not a fact, that will be free. Played by Robert Prygel, Oleg Sogrin, Plamen Konstantinov, Igor Shulepov, Sasha Gadnik, Todor Alexiev, Teodor Todorov, Konstantin Baku, Nikolai Apalikov, Aleksa Brd?ovi?, all the stars of the Russian Superleague come to Surgut. There has never been such an extravaganza in Ugra.

And what is behind this? All day long in the office, endless flights, negotiation, high office hikes, thousands of questions, to which you need to find an answer. After each game, Khabibullin finds the strength to communicate with the fans - right in the foyer of the Premier Arena. And they praise, and scold - and he tries to explain, tell, as then, in UAZ...

… Surgut hosts the World League. Not for the first time. "Organizing Committee" - five people, Rafael Talgatovich does not part with two handsets, talking to them at the same time. A call from the doctor of the Russian team, one of the players urgently needs an MRI. Lightning call on the second phone to the hospital, right there in the conference mode, the issue was resolved in three minutes. So 24 hours for days on end...

… At the World League in Surgut for the first time, it seems, in Russia, they came up with the idea to dress the fans in tiers in national colors - they handed out white, blue and red t-shirts. It turned out a huge tribune-flag. Italians and Serbs under the impression, the idea was spread around the country ...

… Rafael Talgatovich creates and restarts player careers. Denis Biryukov is sent straight from Surgut to the Russian national team, Dmitry Krasikov, Sergey Antypkin, Oleksiy Rodychev, Kirill Ursov, Evgeny Andreev, Alexander Chefranov, Artem Smolyar, Konstantin Baku, Igor Kobzar gets to the silver of the Olympics, a lot of players grow up and go to top clubs…

… AT 2016 Gazprom-Yugra won the final of the CEV Cup. In the first match in Berlin we concede 2:3. Everyone has that feeling, what's at home, in the native "Premier Arena", we can and must put the squeeze on the opponent and take the trophy. But ... in the midst of Meldonium history and hysteria. Хабибуллин, understanding, what is at stake for the fate of the players, invites them to make their own choice - to enter the court with the risk of subsequent disqualification or not. Doesn't let someone in. Surgut loses, and in a couple of weeks the topic of meldonium will be officially closed. What then experienced the head coach, no one knows...

… About a year after that final of the CEV Cup, Rafael Talgatovich dramatically changes his life. Starts to swim, run, eat properly. Loses more than 40 kilograms. "With a change in lifestyle come things, which you have not had for a long time or did not have at all. Smells return - what should they be. Running in the morning - breathing in ... I began to feel people. I look - and I feel the mood, The way of thinking, everything is different, perception sharpens" (from an interview 2020 of the year)…

…From the same interview: "I don't like planes. Flown too much in due time, probably. Behind the wheel there is time to think, and not only about volleyball. I relax while driving and tune in to the right wave at the same time. Such a road meditation ... On the way, early in the morning, very valuable thoughts come to mind. it happens, you can’t find the right answer for a long time, and here it is…”. The longest route by car behind the team: Surgut-Novosibirsk-Kemerovo-Krasnoyarsk-Yaroslavl-St. Petersburg. Across the country to the east, then west...

… Clear, that Khabibullin in the club is not always called “Rafael Talgatovich” behind his back. More often Raf, RT, boss. Briefly and clearly…

… In recent years, there has been a huge attention of young people. The Ugra Boarding College of the Olympic Reserve is one of the best in the country (if not the best) conditions for study and training. Growing prospective reserve. In the last championship of the Youth Volleyball League YUKIOR became the fourth, and at the MVL Cup in Nizhnevartovsk, he beat SShOR-Samotlor in the semifinals with three Superleague players on the court and became the second. It would seem that, what does Khabibullin have to do with it?)

And then there's also the son - Artem. Growing change? We will see. When Artem was a Gazprom-Ugra player, he got the most on the team. And RT looks meticulously at the coaching career of his son. But is proud, though, of course, criticizes more: "from him and the demand is different" ...

… One of my favorite sayings: "With money, any fool can". Efficiency of work of Khabibullin and Gazprom-Ugra, sure, - the best in the country. Most people just don't see it., someone is trying to ignore. detractors, like any non-standard talented person, enough. More friends and associates anyway. So it should, probably, to be…

… call: "How are you? Everything is fine?». Finds time, toromoshit, does not let go sour. Submit food photos. "Do you think, I do it for you? Not, for myself. Discipline". But I understand, that's a big hint. "I'm interested in everything, who's eyes are on fire. Tries to captivate and engage, but not to force - it is necessary, to light up the eye.

Gets up at four in the morning. Runs "his" ten kilometers. When possible - in the evening too. Still running non-stop. Sparks with emotions. Grateful for those, who helps, philosophical about, who puts spokes in the wheels. He helped many people without questions and unnecessary lamentations.. Not afraid to be misunderstood, proves, beats, lit, lives. At sixty, instead of a banquet - a game with Zenit in Kazan. Interesting, the team managed to give a tie?

that we have come this way together and we will go through much more, Rafael Talgatovich! You have already done so much, what to others and 1000 years are not enough. Well, of course, without you on this planet it would be unbearably boring.

Oleg Vladimirov

P.S. I didn’t show the text to the hero of the day in advance - immediately to the site. I know, would start "maybe, no need?», "let's go without it", "I don't like it". Therefore, there may be inaccuracies in the factual part., I immediately apologize. But in essence, everything is correct., I vouch.