Latvian basketball coach Roberts Stelmahers, who was contracted by ZZ Leiden Basketball at the beginning of July, will not come to Leiden after all. Stelmahers has signed a contract with the Czech club Nymburk. That team became champion of the Czech Republic last season.
ZZ Leiden chairman Marcel Verburg heard the news from Stelmahers a few days ago and is astonished at the behavior of the Latvian. “He signed a contract with us in his full mind at the beginning of July and apparently now also with another club. I have really never experienced anything like this.”
Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden Basketball signed a one-year contract on July 4 with Roberts Stelmahers, who was the head coach of Kalev Cramo from Estonia for the past three seasons. With that club he became champion of Estonia in 2020 and 2021. Stelmahers would succeed the coach Geert Hammink who left for Germany.
“We wrote to Stelmahers and also Nymburk,” says Verburg. “Our commitment in that letter is that we want to keep him to his contract, but now Nymburk presented him as their new coach yesterday. So it seems that we have passed that station.” ZZ Leiden does not intend to just let Stelmahers go for an apple and an egg. “He seems to think that this is all possible, but we have a contract and that means of course just something,” said Verburg.
In the coming weeks, ZZ Leiden has to act on two stages. A possible legal battle with Stelmahers, but also the preparation for the qualifying matches is about to start, “That will start in about three weeks”, says Verburg, who has very little time to attract a new coach.