Ice hockey player Balderis Hellmuth: biography, photo

The Riga Rocket is about whom it is or what? Connoisseurs of hockey know the answer to this question. Speech in the article will be about the famous hockey player Helmut Balderis.

The star of the Latvian hockey

Balderis Helmut is a star of Latvian hockey, a famous striker who played for the national team of CSK and the national team of the Soviet Union. To date, he is considered one of the best strikers in the history of Latvia. In 1977, Balderis Helmut was awarded the title of the best hockey player of the USSR, and about a year after that another nice event followed - Helmut became a well-deserved master of sports of the USSR. He is also called the most original hockey player of the 70s. Hockey fans, and just people who are not indifferent to this sport, know Balderis Helmut under the pseudonym of Riga Rocket.

Why was it so loved by the audience?

Fans say that Balderis Hellmuth was not only a terrific sportsman and a good player, he was also an excellent logician, tactician, distinguished by his quick thinking and was famous for his non-standard approach to solving problems that appear on the playing field during the match. Only he could so skillfully score goals, perform complex and twisted programs, thus enthralling even the members of the opposing team. There was something in him about the figure skater. He behaved on the ice very elegantly, watching his play was a real aesthetic pleasure. Colleagues respected him for his talent, phenomenal dedication and exceptional diligence.

Helmut Balderis, whose photo you see in the article, is a cheerful person in life and an incredibly open person. He always stood for the truth and did not hesitate to speak it in person, even if it repeatedly ended in conflict. For Helmut it was not difficult to express their claims to the coach or officials, that is, to those people whom it would be undesirable to argue with at all, at least in order not to undermine his reputation. But no, Hellmuth did not do it for himself, he was not selfish, he did not play at the audience, he did not play his pride. All this was done only for a common cause, for the success of the team, for the prosperity of hockey as such.

Some statistics

It is estimated that this extraordinary and unique person in all respects participated in 462 matches for his life, while he scored 333 goals himself. As for the competitions of the whole Soviet Union, Helmut was unadulterated as the most productive sportsman. At the time when Balderis played in the USSR national team, he became a three-time champion of Europe and the world in his sport, won many gold and silver medals.

Balderis Hellmuth: biography, the beginning of the sporting path

The athlete was born on July 3, 1952 in Riga, at the age of 11 his parents gave him to a sports school in which children and teenagers were engaged. It must be said that Balderis Hellmuth did not possess any outstanding data from birth that would help him make a dizzying career in the sporting field. On the contrary, he absolutely did not stand out among his comrades and peers, he realized early on that the path to success for him would lie only through tremendous efforts and work on himself, which he implemented. As his destiny shows, this understanding helped him to realize in the chosen direction, not to drop his hands, not to surrender and, in spite of everything, overcoming himself, go to his star. And in a few years Helmut came to his first and very serious result, he was invited to the Riga "Dynamo", whose honor he defended at various competitions and matches until 1985.

Helmut Balderis, whose vision was bad, played for some time and trained in glasses, and then switched to contact lenses, which greatly facilitated his life as an athlete. Eye problems did not break the stubborn athlete and did not become a stumbling block to success.

Special skills of Helmut

Eyewitnesses said that Helmut trained in a special way, not like everyone else. The flight path of the puck and the accuracy of the hit were really unique, so nobody ever did before the Lithuanian hockey player. At some point he even lost to Tretyak, who was rightfully called an impenetrable goalkeeper. It was he Balderis Helmut contrived to score four goals in one match.

Meeting with Viktor Tikhonov

This event became really decisive in the life of Balderis Helmut. It was thanks to this man that Helmut also got into the national team of the USSR, besides for all he was an absolute beginner, who no one knew, and whose abilities, to put it mildly, very much doubted. Tikhonov in one of the interviews for the sports newspaper admitted that he was in every way set up against Hellmuth. They said that he was a complete coward, that he had absolutely no charisma and the ability to rush forward despite everything, that he would always be in the shadows, and that Tikhonov would certainly regret that he had taken such a rash and hasty step. But the coach did not listen to anyone, sporting instinct told him that this guy could make a real treasure. And Viktor Tikhonov was not mistaken, and certainly never regretted that he made this choice. Balderis Helmut - hockey player, who in 1977 was recognized as the best forward of the then World Cup.

Career in the club CSKA

Already in the same 1977, Balderis Hellmuth became an official member of the CSKA club, which greatly upset the Riga fans, because during the time of the game in the team of Riga, Helmut became favorite for many attackers, and for some, and a role model. Helmut said that the decision to leave for CSKA was taken solely by himself, just at some point the athlete wanted to go further, try his hand, take one more height by playing with real stars of world hockey. And even this he succeeded, and all thanks to the iron strength of the spirit and strong hardening of a real hockey player. Helmut has always said that membership in the CSKA club has always been a great honor for him. Probably, in its place this would be proud of every athlete. At some point, the career of Balderis in CSKA significantly shaken, he was accused of a hurtful loss to the American team. This very much touched the hockey player's pride, and he preferred to return to Riga, periodically traineeship in Japan and America.

The further fate of Balderis Helmut

After the legendary hockey player left the big sport, he did not give up ice and hockey, worked as a coach, as the director of the Sports Palace in Riga, served as vice-president of the hockey association, engaged in his favorite sport on a voluntary basis. Very many journalists and just fans of Helmut have repeatedly asked him why he left the big sport, because he had a grand success. Helmut did not hesitate to say that he was always drawn home, to the city where he was born and raised, graduated from school, experienced his first victories and defeats. After leaving the sport, Helmut decided to do business, at one time he headed the shop of the pharmaceutical industry, but in this case he did not find himself.

Helmut Balderis, a hockey player whose biography was considered in the article, currently heads an agricultural company that produces and sells natural products: milk, meat, vegetables and other vegetable and food crops.