Kirill Nikiforov: "With great hope and faith in myself, I'm going to Surgut"

Kirill Nikiforov – one of those, who provided Tyumen's second place in the Premier League "a". Moreover, last season he not only scored the most points on his team, which is logical for the “position” of the diagonal, but also became the top scorer in the entire league, writing to your account 733 effective actions. Now Kirill is a diagonal “Gazprom-Ugra” and will try to make himself known in the Super League. Let's get acquainted!

Gorny – “Nova” – MSTU – “Tyumen” – "Gazprom-Ugra"

I started playing volleyball in my homeland, in the village of Gorny, Saratov region with a population of less than five thousand people, from Viktor Romanovich Gribovsky. Somewhere from 9 class we started going to competitions. A little later, as a member of the team of the Saratov region, I played at the championship of the Volga Federal District, there I was noticed by the coach of the youth “Nova” Yuri Aleksandrovich Aleksushin and invited me to the team.

I came to Nova as a finishing player, but after about a year the coach “converted” me into a diagonal. Played four seasons in the Youth League, during this time he managed to become a bronze medalist of the championship and the Russian Cup.

Then he spent two years in the main team of Nova., when the team played in the major league "A". In the second year we became champions, and I went to MSTU. History repeated itself: again two seasons in the team and again in the second year we are champions. Then this algorithm “broke”: second place with Tyumen and ahead of Gazprom-Yugra and the Super League.

About the transition and familiar faces

An agent suggested that I move to Surgut and we, without thinking for a long time, decided, that this is the best option for continuing a professional career. With great hope and faith in myself I am going to Surgut. I know, then there is a lot of work to be done both on site, and beyond. I have a positive attitude towards competition, it helps the player grow.

Gazprom-Yugra is a good team for development, I've heard a lot about Rafael Talgatovich. Once upon a time I could have crossed paths with Alexey Eduardovich (Rudakov, – ca.. order.), I've only heard positive things about him, how about coach. With Alexander Alexandrovich (Chefranov – approx.. order.) had to compete for a place on the site, then he turned out to be stronger. If you don’t take our trio from Tyumen, I personally don’t know any of the players. I played against Max in the youth and tower teams, Denis, Slavi, Artur and Sani Slobodyanuk.

Creed and style

In every team I try to learn something new from more experienced teammates. In “Nova” it happened with Alexander Chefranov, at MSTU with Kirill Suprunov: мы часто разговаривали и обсуждали различные моменты, eg, как действовать в той или иной ситуации на площадке. hope, и в Сургуте с Денисом Литвиновым поможем друг другу и клубу своей конкуренцией добиться новых высот.

Я считаю себя скоростным диагональным. После защиты или блока быстро вернуться на свою позицию, не выключая опцию «в два» для связующего, вот это я считаю своей сильной стороной. Но интересно, что те, с кого я стараюсь брать пример, играют в противоположный моему стилю волейбол: Гэвин Шмитт, Georg Grozer, unknown. То есть я понимаю, что мало всегда быть готовым к атаке, нужно еще эту атаку «проламывать», приносить результат.

Чем занимаюсь сейчас

Сейчас я в Самаре. После завершения сезона первый месяц ушел на восстановление: залечивал некоторые болячки, отвлекся от физических нагрузок. С июня начал ходить в тренажерный зал и на кроссфит. Когда выпадает возможность, играю с друзьями в теннис и сквош, в июле планирую подключить пляжный волейбол. В июне мы с женой отпраздновали два года совместной жизни, а в апреле был год с момента рождения дочки, так что свободного времени сейчас немного, стараюсь помогать семье.