10/11/2019 14:30
Allianz MTV STUTTGART getting settled with the setters – finally!
CEV Champions League Volley 2020 – Women
Stuttgart, Germany, November 10, 2019. Getting a team together is definitely a task where coaches and management have a lot to do: watching videos, talking to players, negotiating with their agents, etc. Usually, this stressful period is coming to an end when the players get together for the first time and preparation starts for the new season. Or not even then. Allianz MTV STUTTGART have been struggling with a few problems with their players this season – even well before they start their journey in the group stage of the CEV Champions League Volley 2020.
Celebrating the first national championship title in the just 11-year-old history of the club was an unforgettable moment for players, staff and fans of Allianz MTV STUTTGART, especially after reaching the final for the fifth time in a row. Moreover, last year they made it to the quarterfinals of the CEV Champions League – losing only to eventual gold medal winners Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA of Italy.
But the roster for the upcoming season was already planned long ago. Sports Director Kim Renkema was successfully looking for an international experienced setter not only to form the team around her, but also to have a perfect colleague for the young and talented Pia Kästner, who would spend the summer with the National team, making her first EuroVolley appearance with Team Germany.
But right after all other positions were filled and the club was about to publish the complete roster for the new season in August, the trouble started. Already signed Kathleen Weiss, a very experienced setter with 311 matches played with the national team and over a decade of CEV Champions League experience in her bones, suddenly asked for a termination of her contract. The 35-year-old setter found an opportunity to start a career off the court and wanted to take that chance – two weeks before coach Ioannis Athanasopoulos invited all the players to start the preparation for the upcoming season.
Literally hours before the season started, Allianz MTV STUTTGART was missing a setter. Coach Athanasopoulos and Renkema made phone calls, watched videos, and checked the market intensely. Two weeks later the club presented Cansu Aydinogullari, the first player from Turkey to perform for STUTTGART, who was very keen on adding another adventure to her life: “I left my family and friends and said: I am going to win some cups and medals,” said Aydinogullari very ambitiously.
Then, after the end of EuroVolley, finally the last missing players started coming to Stuttgart, but with the return of Pia Kästner (pictured left), the management was facing the next problem. Her back pain turned out to be a serious injury. Kästner will be out for a few months.
Again, STUTTGART was in desperate need for a setter. Again, the personnel planning had to start all over again, although the season was running already. Just days ago, on November 1, Allianz MTV STUTTGART signed Ainise Havili (right) from the USA. Finally the situation on the position setter is settled. Finally the management can hopefully sit back and relax.
Wait a minute, with Channon Thompson another player got hurt during the Round of 16 of the national cup. But this is another story.
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