"Goncharenko sets Atalanta as an example".

RPL clubs are already in full swing preparing for the second part of the season. Thus, Pari Nizhny Novgorod are nearing the end of the first training camp in Turkey. The team left for the winter break in 12th place in the Russian championship after 18 rounds with a small gap from the zone of transition matches and the departure zone. Viktor Goncharenko was appointed head coach in the fall.

In an interview with Izvestia, one of the team's leaders, midfielder Nikolay Kalinsky, told what new things Goncharenko brought to the team, under whom he had the most difficult training camps, and also told how often he sees his sister, the famous tennis player Anna Kalinsky, and shared his impressions of meeting her boyfriend, the star Italian tennis player Yannick Sinner, who tops the ATP ranking.

- Pari NN had a very difficult first part of the season. How are you going to improve the results in the spring?

- Not even the first part of the season, but the whole last year was not easy. What are we going to improve the results at the expense of? First of all, we need to prepare well for the spring part of the season, so that we could have as many victories as possible. Last year there were very few of them, that's why in the spring we had a hard time to stay in the RPL according to the results of the last championship, and the summer-autumn part of this year was not easy. We need to get out of this situation. I hope the winter training camp will help us in this. Viktor Mikhailovich (Goncharenko - Ed.) even before the vacation said that the preparation period will be hard, we will run a lot. We believe that this will give a positive result in the spring.

- Since 2021, when your club entered the RPL, there hasn't been a season without nervousness, when you either avoid relegation in the last round or through transition matches. Morally do not tire of such a situation?

- Good question. Yes, it's hard. It was a shame last season, when we seemed to have built up a good gap from our rivals by winter, but in the spring we still had a long series of defeats, as a result of which we avoided relegation only in the last round, and then we kept our place in the RPL through the difficult junctions. Now we are also close to the zone of junctions. It's hard, of course. But what can we do? We will work to perform significantly better in the spring. We will fight for victory in every match to the last.

- You said about heavy loads under Goncharenko. And under which coach was the hardest for you to train?

- Under Rinat Sayarovich Bilyaletdinov, probably. I came to Rubin to watch him, then I played under his leadership in SKA-Khabarovsk. He was the most difficult training camp.

- What was difficult there?

- Four training sessions a day. Before breakfast we trained for an hour on the field. After breakfast was the second training - it was pure running. Then the third training in the gym - also an hour. And the fourth again on the field.

- He also had a physical training coach Evgeny Bondarenko from athletics, who worked with Svetlana Feofanova, world champion in pole vault.

- Yes, yes (smiles). So, you know, they were driving us hard. But at the same time there is no doubt - physically we were ready perfectly. We could run marathons.

- Leaving aside the training camp, what has Viktor Goncharenko already managed to bring to the team after the first two months of work during the championship?

- He was probably the first coach who came and said: "No one in our team runs behind our backs". We were always breaking away from other players, adjusting to the ball, and he paid attention to the fact that we should run behind the backs of opposing team defenders when receiving the ball. And I thought: it was really strange that we had not done it before. We started to work on it. And this is the first thing that I remembered in Viktor Mikhailovich after his arrival in "Pari NN". But in general he has good ideas, a good approach. We do a lot of tactics, we watch different teams, their schemes and make play-ups based on what we have seen. And this is only in the first few months. I am sure, we will see more at the training camp.

- What teams Goncharenko gives as an example?

- "Atalanta". Of course, he does not say that we should play the same way. We still have our own selection of players, which tactics are adjusted to. But as an example he shows us exactly what Gasperini does at Atalanta.

- How did you spend your winter vacation?

- I was with my family all the time. In December we traveled together to Dubai for two weeks, I put aside the phone and spent all the free minutes with my children. Before New Year's Eve we returned to Moscow and met him there with his parents. Then I returned to Nizhny Novgorod and slowly prepared for the training camp.

- Your teammate Alexander Troshechkin said that this winter he had the most original vacation in his life - in Mauritius, where he swam with whales.

- Yes, I saw that Troha went there. I know he drowned his cell phone there (laughs). And then he dried it in rice. I mean, he tried to dry it, but it didn't work.

- What is your most unusual vacation in your life?

- It is difficult to answer, because I do not strive for something original. I devote all my vacations to my family and children - I rest only with them. And I am not looking for anything unusual.

- How many children do you have?

- Two sons. The eldest is six years old, the youngest is two years old.

- During your vacation in Dubai you met Yannick Sinner for the first time. How did it go?

- Yes, we had corresponded with him on social networks before, but we just never had the chance to communicate in person. In the end we agreed to meet, because we knew that both of us would be in Dubai in the winter. As soon as I arrived, we met, had dinner and talked. I gave him a "Pari NN" T-shirt. In general, we had a good time.

- Anna was not present at the conversation?

- No, she already had a preseason in Miami, so I talked to Yannick without her.

- Does he follow soccer?

- Yes, he said that he would come to our match "Paris NN" (smiles). Although with his schedule, I'm more likely to come to some of his tennis match when I'm on vacation. There are more chances for that. Although I realized from talking to him that he's already seen a couple of Pari NN matches. I don't know if it was complete or not and how much he liked it. But he clearly understood that there is such a team in Russia and his girlfriend's brother plays for it. Maybe Anya told him. Maybe he prepared himself for our meeting.

- What impression did Sinner make as a person?

- Uh, very good. A normal, adequate guy, without a trace of stardom. You wouldn't think that he is the world number one now, that he has already won several Grand Slam tournaments.

- Do you approve of your sister's choice?

- Yes, I fully approve. He's a good kid.

- Did he tell you who he supports in soccer, who is his favorite player?

- We did not talk about his favorite players, but I know that he supports Milan.

- Does your sister follow soccer besides your matches?

- Yes, she occasionally goes to the stadium, if there is such an opportunity. She doesn't have a particular favorite team, but if there is a tournament somewhere and soccer is being played nearby, she can go to the game if she has free time. I know that she went to matches with Messi in Miami and Cristiano Ronaldo in the Emirates. She's been uploading videos from there. So her fascination with soccer is not just about me.

- Taking into account that tennis players have almost no breaks in competitions from January to November, and Anna is also training far away from Russia, how often do you manage to see your sister?

- Last year we probably saw her twice in total - one day each. She will either come to Nizhny for some of our games, or we can meet in Moscow on vacation.