The Austrian Volleyball Federation (ÖVV) ran a highly successful training camp for their youth national teams from Friday to Monday at their usual home base in Steinbrunn. This was the first step needed to lay the foundations to compose the teams for the next international competitions. Each regional association sent six girls (born in 2008 and later) and six boys (born in 2007 and younger), which accounted for more than 100 young players scouted by the staff of the Austrian Volleyball Federation.
Since the pandemic resulted in the suspension of all training sessions and matches for such young players, the ÖVV staff was particularly excited to see what level of Volleyball development the boys and girls would be able to show.
All junior national team coaches and around 20 coaches from the regional associations were on site. Sports motor tests and physio checks were on the programme with specific Volleyball skills tested a number of times. In addition, there were workshops in which the players worked on a wide variety of topics together with the trainers, with all activities duly documented and the results added to the ÖVV player database. In the coming months, the staff will continue to observe the youngsters in their respective championships, as well as at the national youth competition scheduled for April 2022. Only then will the decision come as to which players will join the first national training camps coming up in the summer of 2022.
“In 2019 we introduced this scouting system focussing on boys born in 2005 and younger. They eventually qualified for the final stage of the U17 European Championship held earlier this summer where they caused a sensation by beating Volleyball powerhouses such as Serbia and Italy. If you look at this result, the system seems to be working well. The Federation would like to thank all regional and ÖVV trainers for the great work over these four days!”
Gottfried Rath-Zobernig
ÖVV Sports Director
Tereza Soukup, head coach of the ÖVV girls’ youth team: “I am happy that we were able to see so many girls here. We saw many talented, motivated young players. They received our first input, especially with regard to technique. I hope that they can then continue to implement this at their clubs.”
Nina Sawatzki, head coach of the men’s U17 national team: “Those were very interesting four days. We could see many young people that we had never observed before – also because of the pandemic, of course. We have seen well-developed players with much room for improvement. They are at a very good level in terms of their playing skills. That was surprising. I actually thought that after the pandemic there would not be so many technically well-developed players.”
“It is a great thing that the Austrian Volleyball Federation organised this national youth camp with players from all federal states. That was just a great experience for the boys. They trained for several days in a row. It was much more intense than what they usually do in their clubs. Such events are very important for the development of young players!”
Daniel Gavan
Former ÖVV national team captain and regional trainer in Tyrol
