It is already the twentieth season in the volleyball league that the women of VC Wiesbaden (VCW) are facing. But once again “everything stays different”, freely adapted from Herbert Grönemeyer. “We have a special atmosphere in the team,” coach Benedikt Frank looks forward enthusiastically shortly after the start of training, “because it’s a European Cup season.” And although no one in the team knows exactly what to expect in the European adventure, he feels a great anticipation. “The girls really want it.”
Last season, VCW surprisingly took fourth place in the Bundesliga and thus qualified for the European Challenge Cup. Nevertheless, the team then fell apart, as almost always, and now has to be reassembled. Eight departures face five remaining players. Frank even rates this form of fluctuation positively: “We’re happy that a few regular players stayed.” There were seasons when the number of losses was even higher. The Polish Natalia Gajewska (playing) and the Croatian Libera Rene Sain (Libera) stand for continuity as constants. The Slovak Nina Herelová and the American Rachel Anderson continue to form the middle block. And the indestructible Berliner Tanja Großer, who is entering her twelfth VCW season, is once again part of the tribe.
At the same time, Frank has to integrate eight newcomers into the team, which he tackles with zeal. In addition to five “young wild ones” who “can let off steam” but are planned more as supplementary players, he counts above all on three internationally experienced players: Izabella Rapacz (Poland/diagonal), Melissa Langegger (Canada/external attack) and Jonna Wasserfaller ( Sweden/middle block), all between 25 and 29 years old, should help VCW to cope with the upcoming triple burden of Bundesliga, Cup and European Cup.
Team language is and will remain English
At the beginning of August, Frank threw himself into work with performance diagnostic tests, since August 7th the motto has been “full start” – although not all players have been able to be there. The Canadian national player Melissa Langegger only arrived this Tuesday. Jonna Wasserfaller and Nina Herelová, who are challenged with their national teams from Sweden and Slovakia at the European Championships, are also missing. Team language at the diverse VCW is and will remain English, “because otherwise half of the squad doesn’t understand anything,” as Frank puts it pragmatically. “I don’t know of any Bundesliga team where it’s different.”
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The 42-year-old, on the other hand, is having a bit of a headache about the new game system that will be tried out in 2023/24. Since only ten teams are still registered in the Bundesliga, after the main round there is an intermediate round before the play-offs, which tightens the schedule, requires many Wednesday games and requires high rotation on the pitch. The five best teams play in group A, the remaining five in group B. Is it better from a sporting point of view to finish fifth and then lose almost all games in the second round, Frank wonders? Or tactically smarter to finish sixth to get used to weaker opponents for the play-offs? Getting into the European Cup is easier: VCW got a bye in the first round.
