Ankara, Turkey, February 17, 2014. The 26-year-old Sabit Karaagac is a young volleyball player. He has been playing for Halkbank ANKARA for four years. He also continues sustaining his personal development. As in a popular Turkish idiom, “he carries more than one melon under one arm” which means “he wears more than one hat”.
As Halkbank is about to welcome the three best teams in Europe for the upcoming Final Four Tournament of the 2014 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Men, here is an interview with Sabit about volleyball and life providing the opportunity to get to know him from up close:
“I started playing volleyball in my high school years; my physical education teacher at the medical vocational high school encouraged me. I was spotted by a Turkish Volleyball Federation referee during a school volleyball tournament. He offered to turn me into ‘a real volleyball player’. So I started training for the SSK club under Mehmet Sekeryapan’s coaching.”
“One year later, they called me up for the U16 national team. My jump height was very good, so I made it on the squad. As my national team days began, in the meantime, I was earning money at my club, so I began hoping that volleyball could be my profession in the future. I continued playing for SSK’s senior team, but then I had to suspend my volleyball career for two years due to a serious injury.”
“When I recovered from the injury, I transferred to Bozkurt Belediye Spor. Then SSK wanted me to play for them again. After playing there for another two years, I signed with Halkbank. I have been here for four seasons. We had great times and we won the championship. I am happy now.”
As high as the stars
Although Sabit has experienced a lot in his life, he is only 26 years old. He had the opportunity to play with many star players during his career. The Halkbank team has numerous national and international star players. How does he benefit from playing and training with them? Is it a disadvantage? He says that it is not a disadvantage and that the only issue is the difficulty of surpassing them. He even finds it motivating.
“There are many international star players in the team, the whole world knows them. We also have the best Turkish players. Previously I played with many star players in other teams as well. Training with them gives you the opportunity to recognize your weaknesses, so you enhance your playing qualities, improve yourself and learn professionalism better. You expend more energy when you are with elite players. The goal of surpassing them enhances your volleyball level, because surpassing them means improving. The result is obvious.”
Education is important
Along with his decent personality, his good volleyball skills and his youthfulness, Sabit has another important characteristic: an educated man. He beams when he talks about his education background:
“I must say that I am the least educated person in my family. This situation forced me to carry out volleyball together with school. Although I succeeded to gain admission to a top high school, I preferred to go to a medical vocational school while playing volleyball. I was tall, I liked volleyball and I chose the medical vocational school because it was easier and would allow me more time for sports. After graduating from the medical high school, I took a college degree as emergency medical technician. Then I received my bachelor’s degree in physical education from Ankara University. Currently I attend Anadolu University for a third degree that I will finish soon.”
Acquiring professions through education and earning money from volleyball simultaneously make him feel comfortable.
“God forbid, in the case of an injury, my second and third professions are there. I worked at a well-known hospital in Ankara as an emergency medical technician for one and a half years, so I also have some experience behind me. According to the new law, I have the right to work as a teacher. Moreover, I have already got a formation and coaching certification. I am well equipped to cope with the bitter side of life. But it was not easy to achieve this. It is really hard to go to school and follow the lectures in the busy training and game schedule. But I cannot accept the notion that I already earn money from volleyball so nothing bad will happen if I terminate my education. If you are an athlete, you must think wisely! Your future is not guaranteed!”
The notion of spare time
Sabit should not be asked the question how he spends his spare time outside volleyball and education.
“We do not have any spare time during the season. Particularly if you are a member of a team with goals”.
He says that having 10 training sessions per week, plus games, especially away games in both Europe and Turkey, is tough. So there is only one option in the spare time: taking some rest.
Sabit defines his job as ‘heavy duty’: “We do not have time for entertainment. You might allocate half a day to yourself after a game. You have only one week in the summer for relaxing. Since we are elite players we cannot take a break longer than one week.”
Gold from the Champions League is his dream
The 2014 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League Final Four in Ankara haunts Sabit’s dreams. He has strong feelings about this competition and believes that his team can win the cup. He defines the Champions League as the top level club competition in volleyball.
“Our aim is certainly to win gold, but even competing in the Final Four is a great honor. It motivates us further that the tournament will be held in Ankara. We work hard in order to achieve success. The road to the gold passes through good preparation. Last year we won the CEV Volleyball Cup. It was the first in the history of Turkish men’s volleyball. Now we desire to achieve another first in history and raise the bar by winning the Champions League.”
“We have to differentiate between the targets and the realities. We want the cup and we are not unrealistic. We really have strong opponents, so here we will need our supporters, the volleyball fans in Ankara. They must fill the stands without leaving any seat empty, because we will need their support.”
“Russian teams are really strong. But if the name of the game is final, nobody can predict who will perform better on the court, because in front of your supporters the atmosphere, the excitement, will be different. The one who stays calm and uses his weapons well will take the podium. We want to be on the highest level of the podium. I hope I will be among the players who will live the honor of winning the Champions League for Turkey and for Halkbank. If we win, this will be a new accelerator for Turkish men’s volleyball. The Halkbank volleyball team bears this mission as well.”
The season’s target: four cups
Sabit stated the team’s target for this season is to win four cups: “We are the leader in the Acibadem Volleyball League of Turkey and aim to be the champion. The Turkish Cup is also on our target list. If we succeed to carry the Champions League trophy and the Super Cup to our museum, we will complete our list.”
Iron man broke my finger
Sabit describes each of his teammates in one sentence.
Matey Kaziyski: He is the most professional player I have seen.
Vefa Yilmaz: Vefa Abi (brother Vefa) is very funny - if he was not a volleyball player, he would easily be a comedian.
Kerem Yilmaz: He is the youngest and is the mascot of our team; he means a lot to us, although everybody picks on him all the time.
Osmany Juantorena: He has been created as a volleyball player - all of his parts were produced exactly for volleyball!
Can Ayvazoglu: Can Abi (brother Can) concentrates only on his job - he is a defense machine.
Raphael Oliveira: He is a family man, a good father and if he was not a volleyball player, he would be a successful farmer.
Burutay Subasi: He is an iron man. I have never seen a player hitting this hard. He left a souvenir to each of us in the team - a broken finger for me.
Emre Batur: I think he is the best player in Turkey - number 1; he is a living machine.
Huseyin Koc: Huseyin Abi (brother Huseyin) was born to be a captain - he likes to talk a lot and to explain a lot.
Mitar Tzourits: He jumps incredibly, like a flying man, and he is a perfect middle blocker.
Mauricio de Souza: Even if he looks very calm, he never stops talking and plays the guitar well.
Nuri Sahin: I have never seen a greedy man like him - he saves incredible balls.
Resul Tekeli: He is my good friend; very successful in volleyball and the perfect house man - he leaves home only for trainings, matches, hamam and sauna sessions; that is his life.