The Bulgarian men's national volleyball team has received an invitation for a joint training camp and control matches in Japan, to take place immediately before the World Championship in the Philippines, which will be in mid-September. This was announced by the team's manager, Stefan Cholakov. It is known that our team was drawn in a group with Germany, Slovenia, and Chile at the world championship, with the first two teams having participated in the Olympic Games in Paris this summer.
"We thank Engineer Petar Georgiev for building the "Semelion" base in Samokov. This is an impressive facility that offers the best conditions for preparation. All teams will train there - the men's team, as well as the U21 team. The U19 team will be at our old base "Samokov Arena" with the nearby hotel. This will realize the idea that everyone trains together, under one program, and is 5-6 minutes apart. This is being done because over the years, the lack of communication between the individual teams has been a weakness, creating tension when players moved from one team to another. From May, the teams will begin preparation in Samokov and will be there all summer," Cholakov said.
"On December 10, the groups for the Nations League will be announced. Once we know them, we will negotiate for control matches before the tournament, but there won't be more than two or three. You know there will also be a tournament in Bulgaria (editor's note - Burgas)," the manager added.
"Over the years, there have been accusations against the federation that it works haphazardly; now it won't be like that. It is important for the younger teams to adopt the vision, ideas, and philosophy of the first team so that there is an easier transition of players between the different teams. There is a clear strategy for the men's program. The U21 boys will prepare for the World Championship under the supervision of the head coach. The youngest U16 team will train in Stara Zagora, where there is also an excellent base with two separate halls. Gianlorenzo Blengini will have constant discussions with all coaches. He has already started visiting clubs in Bulgaria. We went through Sofia, Pazardzhik, Stara Zagora, and will continue with other cities. At a later stage, a seminar is also planned where we want to present knowledge and trends to our coaches. This way, we will make full use of Gianlorenzo Blengini even when he is not busy with his work with the national team in the hall during the summer. Organizationally, the federation has taken care to provide everything, and we hope for success from the teams that have qualified for all possible championships," said the national teams coordinator, Nikolay Ivanov.
photos: Nikolay Varadinov
