Plan de Corones / Kronplatz, Italy, April 7, 2019. Tomislav Smuc, former player of the Slovenian Volleyball national team, has taken on a number of different roles after the end of his career as an indoor volleyballer to stay closely involved in all three disciplines of his favourite sport – Volleyball, Beach Volleyball and Snow Volleyball. At the 2019 FIVB Snow Volleyball World Tour event in Plan de Corones / Kronplatz, co-organised with the CEV, he took time to tell cev.eu about his current roles as an Ambassador for EuroVolley 2019, owner of an indoor Beach Volleyball facility, and a successful Snow Volleyball player.
“I played Volleyball professionally for almost 20 years. Since I was born in Ljubljana, where EuroVolley competition will be held, things kind of fell together spontaneously when the president of our federation Metod Ropret asked me if I wanted to promote the CEV Volleyball European Championship, which is held in Slovenia for the first time. We are hosting EuroVolley together with three other countries, but this doesn’t undervalue the meaning of this fact,” Smuc started his story. “I am actually really happy to be in the role of connecting media, sponsors and players, and helping maintain the presence of Volleyball in the media at a high level throughout Slovenia. I also had the pleasure of meeting with the other ambassadors - Frank Depestele from Belgium and Bas van de Goor from the Netherlands. The funny thing is that he and I played together for two years as teammates in a Dutch club. So it is really nice to be together again in a role of promoting Volleyball.”
“For sure, the European Championship will be the biggest event in Slovenia this year,” he added. “I know the ticket sales are already going really well so far. A lot of people from other countries are also interested in attending the event. So I think it will be a big success.”
Tomislav Smuc at the Plan de Corones / Kronplatz centre court
In recent years, Slovenia has become very active in organising international Beach Volleyball events and Tomislav Smuc has had a lot to do with it. After finishing his indoor career, he built the first indoor Beach Volleyball hall in Slovenia, the Sports Park Ludus Crnuce in the centre of Ljubljana, which eventually allowed in 2018 the Slovenian capital to host two one-star events on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour in the same year - one in the summer and one in the winter.
“I manage all the facilities that we have – four indoor and seven outdoor Beach Volleyball courts, three tennis courts and a football pitch. This way I get to stay in contact with the Volleyball community. In relation to the World Tour competitions, my role is to look for sponsors, organise the events, promote Beach Volleyball and try to help our national team players as much as I can,” said Smuc.
Already quite busy as it is, Tomislav Smuc has managed to make time for Snow Volleyball as well and has been playing the new winter sport for two seasons now. “I like to be part of it during the winter time. Last season I played with Jernej Potocnik and our team had a funny nickname, Tom and Jerry. Now that the rules have changed to make it a three-a-side sport, my honest opinion as a player is that this is even better. I was a setter in indoor Volleyball, so my role here is mainly setting the ball, not attacking anymore and not so much blocking. And we are quite successful. At the European Tour stop in Russia in December we finished fourth and here, in Plan de Corones, we are already in the quarterfinals of a World Tour event. I like it more than two-on-two. I think it’s a different sport. It’s more team-oriented, with longer rallies, so it’s even more attractive to the spectators.”
The Snow Volleyball national team of Slovenia playing at Plan de Corones / Kronplatz
Slovenia is a very small country, but has become a great example of how all three Volleyball disciplines can be developed simultaneously and successfully. Smuc shared his thoughts on this phenomenon and the possible reason behind it.
“In 2015, we finished second at the Volleyball European Championship and we have high expectations for this year’s EuroVolley as well. In Beach Volleyball, we have some duos that are successful, but maybe we need to work towards getting more players who are oriented to the sand only, without having to combine it with indoor. But this job is mine to do as I try to offer them the best possible conditions to practice. In Snow Volleyball, we first took this as a fun activity, but following our results, we are getting very serious about it. I guess the reason is that we are managing our sports in Slovenia well. Of course, there is room for improvement, but for now things are working OK.”