Coach of the Russian junior men’s national team: let’s follow Poland

The junior men’s national team of Russia won 5th plae at the European Championships. The coach, Siergiej Szlapnikow, says in order to improve the level of volleyball among the youngest players we have to follow successful models from other countries, ex. Poland.

The junior men’s national team of Russia won 5th plae at the European Championships. The coach, Siergiej Szlapnikow, says in order to improve the level of volleyball among the youngest players we have to follow successful models from other countries, ex. Poland.

- Top junior national teams of Europe have their training centers, where they can practice all year. This for example refers to Italy, Poland, Belgium, Turkey… If we want to improve the number of great players in the national team, we need such centers too. We have the potential so now it is all about the decision – said Szplapnikow.

- The result is not bad, but we could certainly do better. We have been playing two months in the composition from Gdynia. The training staff had no time to perform appropriate actions. Our form developed together with the tournament. We played the best matches against Poland, which is a very strong team – said coach of the junior men’s national team.

He also said that training of setters is important for him. – We have talented players on this position. One of them is 17-years old Roman Żoś from Novosibirsk. With appropriate training he may become helpful to the national team. Good prospects are also in front of Iwan Diemako from Kazań, who has been announce the best blocker. In total we have tested 38 players during the trainings. Some have been eliminated by the injuries, other because of the character – ended Szlapnikow.

Russian coach mentioned about great organization of the European Championships. – Everything was organized on the highest level, including accommodation, transport, Benue and training. Once again we had opportunity to see the great organizational capabilities of Poland – said coach of the Russian national team.

The same opinion shared other foreign quests. At the Europeach Championships’ matches Augustin Martin Santos, President of the Spanish Volleyball Federtion, has been present. – I would like to congratulate you on perfect organization. Thank you for taking care of the teams. We have been delighted – wrote in a letter to the President of the Polish Volleyball Federation, Mirosław Przedpełski.