Rapla KK, also known as Avis Utilitas Rapla for sponsorship reasons, 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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

club based in

Rapla Rapla (German: ''Rappel'') is a town in central Estonia, the capital of Rapla County and the centre of Rapla Parish. The oldest records date back to 1241 in the Danish Census Book, when it was said that it was a small village with 8 acres of ...

, 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

Sadolin Sports Hall The Sadolin Sports Hall ( et, Sadolin Spordihoone) is a multi-purpose indoor arena complex in Rapla. It was opened in 2010 and is the current home arena of the Estonian Basketball League team Rapla KK Rapla KK, also known as Avis Utilitas Rapla ...

History

In 1996, Korvpalliklubi Rapla (Basketball Club Rapla) was founded as a division of the Rapla Sports School. Rapla Korvpallikool (Rapla Basketball School) was formed in 2004. In 2010, Rapla moved to the new

and were promoted to 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 Est ...

(KML). Coached by Indrek Ruut, they finished the 2010–11 regular season in sixth place and reached the playoffs, where they were eliminated in the quarterfinals by

TTÜ/Kalev TalTech Basketball is the basketball team of Tallinn University of Technology based in Tallinn, Estonia. The team plays in the Latvian–Estonian Basketball League. Their home arena is the TalTech Sports Hall. The team has won eight Estonian Ch ...

, losing the series 1 game to 3. In 2011, Rapla joined the Challenge Cup competition of the regional

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 ...

(BBL) for the 2011–12 season, but failed to advance past the group stage. In 2012, Rapla reached the

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 ...

final, but lost to Rakvere Tarvas 64–81. In 2014,

Aivar Kuusmaa Aivar Kuusmaa (born 12 June 1967) is an Estonian basketball coach and former professional basketball player who played mostly at the shooting guard position. He won the USSR Premier Basketball League in 1991 as a member of the Tallinn Kalev ba ...

was hired as head coach. The team finished the 2014–15 regular season in third place. In the 2015 KML Playoffs, Rapla defeated Valga in the quarterfinals, but lost to Kalev and finished third after beating Rakvere Tarvas 2 games to 1 in the third place games. Rapla finished third again in the 2015–16. The team finished the 2016–17 regular season in third place with Thomas van der Mars being named

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

(MVP). In the 2017 KML Playoffs, Rapla defeated Valga 3 games to 0 in the quarterfinals and

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

3 games to 1 in the semifinals, reaching the finals for the first time in their history, but lost the series to Kalev 0 games to 4.

Sponsorship naming

The team has had several denominations through the years due to its sponsorship: * Piimameister Otto/Rapla: 2010–2012 * TYCO Rapla: 2012–2015 *

AVIS Avis is Latin for bird and may refer to: Aviation *Auster Avis, a 1940s four-seat light aircraft developed from the Auster Autocrat (abandoned project) *Avro Avis, a two-seat biplane *Scottish Aeroplane Syndicate Avis, an early aircraft built by ...

Rapla: 2015–2017 * AVIS UTILITAS Rapla: 2017–present

Home arenas

* Alu Sports Hall (2009–2010) *

(2010–present)

Players

Current roster

Depth chart

Coaches

* Indrek Ruut 2010–2014 *

2014–2018 *

Toomas Annuk Toomas is an Estonian masculine given name, a cognate of Thomas. People named Toomas include: * Toomas Alatalu (born 1942), historian, educator, political commentator and politician * Toomas Altnurme (born 1973), painter * Toomas Annus (born 196 ...

2019–2021 * Lluís Riera 2021–2022 * Arnel Dedic 2022–present

Season by season

Trophies and awards

Trophies

Estonian Championship * Runners-up (1): 2016–17

* Runners-up (1): 2012

Individual awards

KML MVP * Thomas van der Mars – 2017 KML Best Defender *

Martin Dorbek Martin Dorbek (born 21 January 1991) is an Estonian professional basketball player. He is currently playing for BC Kalev/Cramo. He comes from basketball family: father Allan Dorbek is a basketball coach, brothers Erik Dorbek and Karl-Peeter Dorbe ...

– 2013 KML Best Young Player *

Rait-Riivo Laane Rait-Riivo Laane (born 24 May 1993) is an Estonian professional basketball player for KK Viimsi of the Latvian-Estonian Basketball League. He is a 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in) tall point guard. He also represents the Estonian national basketball tea ...

– 2012, 2013

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 ...

– 2017

All-KML Team All-KML Team ( et, Korvpalli Meistriliiga tähtede viisik) is an award for the top-tier professional basketball league in Estonia, the Korvpalli Meistriliiga (KML). It is the yearly selection of the league's top five basketball players, by positio ...

* Indrek Kajupank – 2016, 2017 * Heigo Erm – 2011 *

Janar Soo Janar Soo (born 17 January 1991) is a former Estonian professional basketball player who played at the shooting guard position. He retired in January 2017 due to knee injuries. Estonian national team Soo has represented the Estonia men's nationa ...

– 2012 * Domagoj Bubalo – 2015 * Martin Paasoja – 2017 * Thomas van der Mars – 2017 * Dominique Hawkins – 2018 * Roberts Freimanis – 2021

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rapla KK Basketball teams in Estonia Basketball teams established in 2004 2004 establishments in Estonia Rapla