Győr, Hungary, April 26, 2017.  An international Volleyball match between Italy and Russia... Antonov, Cantagalli, Gardini, Tetyukhin... Flashbacks to many great moments from the history of a great sport! But the year is 2017 and the competition is a youth tournament. And of course, it is not Oleg Antonov, Luca Cantagalli, Andrea Gardini or Sergey Tetyukhin that are giving their hearts out on the court... It is their sons, the next generation of players, making their first steps in high-level international Volleyball at the finals of the U19 European Championship, hoping to follow in their fathers’ footsteps, but striving to write Volleyball history of their own!

Davide Gardini, one of the main outside hitters on the Italian squad at #EuroVolleyU19M, is the son of prominent hall-of-famer Andrea Gardini, a middle blocker from the so-called Generation of Phenomena in Italian Volleyball from the 1990s. At the beginning Davide was not even interested in playing Volleyball and his father did not try to push him in that direction.

“I started playing Football when I was younger,” Gardini junior says. “Then I decided myself to start playing Volleyball, because I like this sport. I know that my father is very happy about this. His story does inspire me and I am proud to represent the name of Gardini on the court, but I want to play this sport for myself.”

Another member of Julio Velasco’s golden generation, outside hitter Luca Cantagalli, is surely proud to see his offspring continue the “family business” on the court. Maybe it is just a curious coincidence, but the legendary Gardini and Cantagalli were born within the span of three months in the year 1965 and their sons, Davide and Diego, were born within three days in February 1999, and now they are playing shoulder to shoulder for their country like their fathers did a long time ago.

But just like his friend and teammate, Diego is playing in a different position from his father as he is the starting opposite on the Italian squad. And just like Davide, Diego wants to follow a path of his own. “This European Championship gives me the opportunity to represent the Cantagalli name internationally, but for me it is important people to know that I am not Luca; I am Diego!”

The story almost repeats on the other side of the court. The name of Sergey Tetyukhin speaks for itself. At the age of 41, the distinguished outside spiker is still an active player and is seldom at home. Often, he has to advise his son Pavel from a distance. The 16-year-old Tetyukhin has taken on the role of a libero and has been instrumental in Russia’s success so far at #EuroVolleyU19M 2017 – three wins in three matches. He acknowledges all that his dad Sergey means to the world of Volleyball, but just like a normal teenager has a mind of his own and wants to play his own game.

“He is my father and I look up to his achievements in Volleyball. When there is something important I want to ask about Volleyball, I ask him. But when I am on the court, I do not think about that. I only think about the game,” Pavel points out.

For Russia’s captain Stanislav Antonov, it is not only his father Oleg Antonov’s heritage he has to “deal with”, but also with that of his uncle Yaroslav Antonov, both of them legendary names in the history of Soviet and Russian Volleyball. His older cousin Oleg Antonov is already an Olympic medallist with the Italian national team. To Stanislav, though this is not that important.

“I see my father quite often and often ask him about his opinion. I also see how much respect people in Volleyball have for him,” Stanislav Antonov admits. “But our task here is to win this European Championship. We have been working towards this goal for a long time now and this is all that matters. Who our relatives are is not important.”


All matches of the tournament are scheduled for live streaming on LAOLA1.tv.

Engage with the U19 European Championship on social media by using the competition’s official hashtag #EuroVolleyU19M.

Click here for more information, including a detailed match schedule.