The women’s volleyball team begins preparations for the European Silver League and European Championship qualification / Article

Someone will always say that there should have been this or another player, but basically, among the 19 candidates, there are all the volleyball players who should have been there. Six volleyball players play abroad on a daily basis, another six represent this year’s Latvian and Baltic champion team “Rīga Stradiņa University/Murjaņu Sporta Gymnasium”, six players are from “Rīga Volleyball School/University of Latvia”, and one player is from the Jelgava team. Marta Kamēlija Levinska, the leading player of Latvian women’s volleyball, who started her professional career in the Turkish top league in the spring after her studies, will also play in the national team, but next season Marta will move to the German top league, to the Dresden team.

The women’s volleyball team is very young in years, but a core with international experience has already formed.

The team’s head coach, Italian Daniele Capioti, states that the preparation plan will be intensive, while the Silver League will be a good opportunity to make sure of one’s strength, already thinking about the main tournament of the summer, namely the qualification for the European Championship.

A conversation with head coach Daniela Capriotti

“The progress is huge, I can say that right away. We have many more players to choose from for the national team. Our potential is really big. We must be ready to work to achieve the set goals,” says the coach, adding that this is the time to focus to a match in the Silver League, where you can also watch the opponents in the upcoming European Championship qualification.

The leader of the national team, Marta Kamelia Levinska, also states that this year it is already felt that more is expected from the team itself, as well as from outsiders, and the players will have to expect that further progress will be required this year.

A conversation with Marta Kamelia Levinska

“We have quite high goals for ourselves, and I think we will start better than last season,” emphasizes Levinska.

This year, the Silver League for women will be played a little differently. Namely, all 10 teams are in the same group, but they will not have to play with all countries. The tournament will be held according to the principle of matches, and the games will be arranged according to ranks – Latvia will meet the hosts and Hungarian volleyball players in the first match on May 17 and 18 in Iceland. On May 24 and 26, games will be played in Riga, Latvia playing against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Georgia, but at the very end of May and beginning of June they have to play in Hungary, where they have to meet the hosts, as well as Finland. After that, we will see what the results will be and whether the Latvian national team will fight for the Silver League title. In the second half of the summer, the qualification for the European Championship will begin for volleyball players.