BC Rakvere Tarvas is a professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

club based in Rakvere, Estonia. The team plays in the

Latvian–Estonian Basketball League The Latvian-Estonian Basketball League is the highest professional men's club basketball league in Latvia and Estonia; it has been organised since 2018, run by the Latvian Basketball Association and the Estonian Basketball Association. History ...

. Their home arena is the

Rakvere Sports Hall Rakvere Spordihall is a multi-purpose arena in Rakvere, Estonia. It was built in 2004 and holds up to 2,422 people during sports events and up to 3,556 during concerts. When opened, it was the second largest sports arena in Estonia. It generally ...

. Tarvas was relegated to the third Estonian division in 2017. On 19 June 2019, BC Rakvere Tarvas was again promoted to the Estonian-Latvian top tier league (

History

Rakvere Tarvas was founded in 2006 by Andres Sõber and joined the top-tier

Korvpalli Meistriliiga The Korvpalli Meistriliiga ( en, Basketball Champions League), known as the OlyBet Korvpalli Meistriliiga for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier level and most important professional basketball league in Estonia. It is controlled by the Es ...

(KML) for the 2006–07 season, replacing another Rakvere based team, the financially troubled Rakvere Palliklubi. The team name Tarvas, meaning '' Aurochs'' in Estonian, is the symbol of Rakvere and is derived from the historic name of Rakvere, Tarvanpea (''Aurochs' head''). Rakvere Tarvas finished the 2006–07 regular season in 6th place, reaching the playoffs, where the team was eliminated by Tartu Fausto in the quarterfinals. Martin Muursepp

Andres Sõber strengthened the team significantly during the 2009 off-season by signing point guard

Valmo Kriisa Valmo Kriisa (born 18 May 1974 in Pärnu, Estonia) is an Estonian former professional basketball player. He played at the point guard and shooting guard positions. Kriisa started his senior club career with "KK Tartu" team (Tartu Ülikool/Rock) in ...

, young shooting guard Rain Veideman and centers

Richard Anderson Richard Norman Anderson (August 8, 1926 – August 31, 2017) was an American film and television actor. Among his best-known roles was his portrayal of Oscar Goldman, the boss of Steve Austin ( Lee Majors) and Jaime Sommers ( Lindsay Wagner) i ...

and Reinar Hallik. In February 2010, they were joined by forward

Martin Müürsepp Martin Müürsepp (; born 26 September 1974) is an Estonian professional basketball coach and former player, who is the head coach of BC Rakvere Tarvas of the Estonian-Latvian Basketball League. Widely regarded as one of Estonia's greatest bas ...

. Rakvere Tarvas finished the 2009–10 regular season in second place and reached the finals in the playoffs. In the finals, Rakvere Tarvas faced the top-seeded TÜ/Rock and lost the series 2 games to 4, despite winning the first 2 games. Valmo Kriisa and Rain Veideman were named to the All-KML Team, while Andres Sõber won the

Coach of the Year Many sports leagues, sportswriting associations, and other organizations confer "Coach of the Year" awards. In some sports — including baseball and association football — the award is called the "Manager of the Year" award. Some of the ...

award. After the season, Rakvere Tarvas lost several star players, including Kriisa, Müürsepp and Veideman, and failed to repeat their success in the 2010–11 season, finishing in fourth place. Rakvere Tarvas also joined the

Baltic Basketball League Baltic Basketball League (BBL) was the Baltic states basketball league founded in 2004. The league mainly focused on teams from the Baltic states, but teams from Sweden, Russia, Kazakhstan, Finland, and Belarus have participated in the Baltic L ...

for the 2010–11 season, but failed to advance past the group stage of the Challenge Cup competition. Rakvere Tarvas spent the 2011 off-season rebuilding. The team re-acquired Valmo Kriisa and signed Latvians

Kaspars Cipruss Kaspars Cipruss (born February 2, 1982) is a Latvian basketball player. Club career Born in Rezekne, Latvia, Cipruss started his basketball career in Latvian powerhouse ASK/Brocēni/LMT in 1998. After extinction of the team he had a brief spe ...

Rinalds Sirsniņš Rinalds Sirsniņš (born 4 July 1985 in Ogre, Latvia) is a Latvian professional basketball player. He is currently playing for BK Ogre at the guard position and general manager of the team. Honours * Latvijas Basketbola līga: 2008 **Runner-up ...

and

Juris Umbraško Juris Umbraško (born 29 July 1978 in Jekabpils, Latvia) is a Latvian professional basketball coach and former player. He is the current head coach of Latvian-Estonian Basketball League team Rīgas Zeļļi. Club career Umbraško started his ...

. In response, some Rakvere Tarvas fans started showing their support by attending games wearing Latvian national team uniforms. Rakvere Tarvas finished the 2011–12 regular season in third place and reached the semifinals in the playoffs, where the team was defeated by Kalev/Cramo. The team placed third in the final standings, after defeating Rapla 2 games to 0 in the third place games. On 22 December 2012, Rakvere Tarvas won their first

Estonian Cup The Estonian Cup ( et, Eesti Karikas) is the national knockout competition in Estonian football. In 2012, the competition was unofficially rebranded as Evald Tipner's Cup. The winner will compete in UEFA Europa Conference League first qualifyi ...

, beating Rapla in the final 81–64. The team came third in the 2012–13 season, once again defeating Rapla in the third place games. Reimo Tamm was the KML top scorer with 16.36 points per game, while Brandis Raley-Ross and Juris Umbraško were named to the All-KML Team. Rakvere Tarvas competed in the

2013–14 EuroChallenge The 2013–14 EuroChallenge was the 11th edition of Europe's third-tier level transnational competition for men's professional basketball clubs. The winner and the runner-up of this competition earned a place at the group stage of the 2014–15 ...

but failed to advance past the group stage with a 1–5 record. The team finished the 2013–14 season in third place, losing the semifinals against Kalev/Cramo 0 games to 3 and defeating Tallinna Kalev in the third place games 2 games to 1. The team folded after the 2016–17 season. On 19 June 2019, BC Rakvere Tarvas was again promoted to the Estonian-Latvian top tier league(

)

Home arena

Players

Current roster

Depth chart

Coaches

* Andres Sõber 2006–2017 *

2017–2021 *

2021–Present

Season by season

Trophies and awards

Trophies

Estonian Championship *Runners-up (1): 2009–10 I Liiga *Champions (1): 2018–19

*Winners (1): 2012 *Runners-up (2): 2010, 2014

Individual awards

KML Best Young Player * Rain Veideman – 2010 * Sander Saare – 2014 *

Siim-Markus Post Siim-Markus Post (born 13 February 1997) is an Estonian professional basketball player for KK Viimsi of the Estonian–Latvian Basketball League. He also represents the Estonian national team. Standing at 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in), he plays at th ...

– 2017

KML Coach of the Year The KML Coach of the Year ( et, Korvpalli Meistriliiga aasta treener) is an award for the top-tier professional basketball league in Estonia, the Korvpalli Meistriliiga (KML). Winners See also * Korvpalli Meistriliiga * KML Most Valuable Playe ...

* Andres Sõber – 2010 All-KML Team * Brandis Raley-Ross – 2013, 2015 *

– 2010 * Rain Veideman – 2010 *

– 2012 *

– 2013

References

External links

*
Rakvere Tarvas
estlatbl.com {{DEFAULTSORT:BC Rakvere Tarvas Rakvere Tarvas Basketball teams established in 2006 Korvpalli Meistriliiga Sport in Rakvere Defunct basketball teams