The regional finals of the Under 19 men’s and Under 18 women’s teams took place on Sunday 28 April. The venues for the events were the arenas of Tuscania and Colleferro which welcomed the warm public who came in large numbers to cheer on the stars of the future.
Marino, for the men, and Volleyro’ for the women, won the coveted regional trophy, demonstrating, in fact, how much they are investing in the youth sector. We listened to those who, in addition to the players who took to the field, made this result possible, namely coach Ronsini who leads the very young Marino Volleyball team and coach Russo who directs the Volleyro’ girls.
Marino Pallavolo has always invested in the new generations to raise the general level of the entire movement. Coach Ronsini, what were the aspects that led to the victory of such an important event?
“This is a team built following the corporate objective, working with young people, training high-level kids. We collaborate with Cisterna Volley and we want to get the boys ready in case there is the possibility of a call, exactly as happened with Finauri. Our athletes are practically all from ’06, so in a certain sense we also play subcategory. From a technical point of view the team is very complete, even playing in Serie B they are making great steps forward on that side. We don’t have a specific strong point, all the guys have excellent qualities. As far as the mental aspect is concerned, what makes the difference is undoubtedly the desire they have to improve, they are hard workers in the gym and incredibly ambitious, this makes them raise the level day after day.”
Volleyro’ Casal de’ Pazzi has a balanced roster: this was the key to success according to coach Lorenzo Russo.
“From a technical point of view we are a complete team, we have no deficiencies in any fundamental or specific weak points. I really believe that it is this homogeneity in the level of all the girls that has led us to this result. However, we must work and raise the level, we are still missing something from the point of view of group unity and we are really pushing to improve this aspect.”
Behind such important victories built piece by piece.
Ronsini: “The path established at the beginning of the year has prepared the boys to face matches of this type. Serie B is a difficult championship for them, we are the only ones who play it with an entirely U19 team and this trains them a lot. In that category our goal was not to be relegated, so we prepared every single match as a final and this mentality then paid off in the regional finals. I tried to keep them under pressure, but still giving them peace of mind and even though the tension was obviously high they managed to manage it very well. As far as training is concerned, we focused on the characteristics of the opposing team which we already knew anyway, trying to exploit every weak point in our favour.”
Russian: “Already knowing our opponents was crucial. Having had commitments in B1 we didn’t have time to work specifically on a match, but we did some general work to be able to present ourselves to the best of our ability. Fortunately the girls were able to put into practice what they had done during the week to bring home the result.”
A coach often has the difficult role of someone who has to lead his kids, trying to remain calm and cool even in the face of difficulties, but what emotions did you feel after Sunday’s victory?
Ronsini: “Together with all the staff, every year we set ourselves the goal of reaching as high as possible and achieving important goals. We are at the tenth regional final won, but the happiness is still the same. Obviously the satisfaction is great, but we are already focused on what to improve for the next events. However, the key word is to improve.”
If for Coach Ronsini it was now the tenth victory, for Lorenzo Russo it was the first as coach…
“I have already won regional finals as a player and as second coach, but this is my first victory as first coach. I am therefore very happy and satisfied, but what makes me most proud is certainly the fact that the girls responded well to my instructions by playing great.”
The regional finals directly lead to the great objective of the National finals which will be played from 14 to 19 May in San Giustino for the men’s competition and in Conversano for the women’s finals.
Ronsini: “In the national final there will be 12 teams, it is clear that the main objective is one, but what matters most to me is the performance. Getting as high as possible by giving your all is the thing that would give me the most satisfaction ever. It doesn’t just depend on us, each match is different, but we participate aware of our means and even if we are among the youngest I know that thanks to our qualities we will be able to play.”
Russian: “The goal is simple, to do the best we can at the national finals. The level will be high, but we are already working to be ready and try to play our best cards.”
