Germany NT 2015

    German roster for the tournament in Brazil:


    S: Weiß, Apitz
    OPP: Kozuch, Lippmann
    OH: Brinker, Beier, Geerties, Weihenmaier
    MB: Brandt, Silge, Pettke, Kauffeldt
    L: Dürr, Thomsen


    Hippe, Stigrot and Schölzel stay at home. I'm surprised Kauffeldt made the cut, maybe she had some private super special training before joining NT to get in shape :D

    Unless a big surprise happens in ECH, I expect Pedulla's time with German NT to be over soon, the question is if he'll end it or if federation ends it. All summer he didn't hide his dissatisfaction with the players' performance, after the defeats against Brazil and Netherlands in Rio he found clear words and he did the same during WGP. The players use rather cryptic messages like "team and coach still need to find each other" or "we still need to get used to his style of play", but it looks like neither side is really happy with the collaboration. Pedulla didn't manage to teach the German players to attack, and his approach to the game (playing with high risk and always try to score) doesn't fit German team unfortunately. Guidetti used exactly the opposite approach, play smart in attack instead of risking errors and try to score with blocks or keep the ball in play long enough to get a good attack opportunity or let the opponent make the mistake. With Pedulla the error rate in German play exploded because our attackers simply can't score difficult balls. The problem is that I don't expect a better performance with any other coach as long as we have no players who can attack on international level. Brinker was the only bright spot this summer but she isn't enough.

    Guidetti? :white:

    On Monday the team will gather in Schwerin to start the last phase of preparation for ECH. They'll also play friendly matches in Italy and Netherlands.


    Another interesting new development: Louisa Lippmann is out of the team and Lena Stigrot takes her place. This comes quite as a surprise...and the news from DVV doesn't make it clear of Pedulla cut Lippmann or if she left on her own. Surprisingly, Kauffeldt keeps her place in the team even though she didn't play one rally as MB in the tournament in Brazil, only in the last match as blocking substitute for the setter.


    So the current roster for ECH is:
    Weiss, Apitz
    Kozuch
    Brinker, Beier, Geerties, Weihenmaier, Stigrot (the last two can also play OPP)
    Brandt, Silge, Pettke, Kauffeldt
    Dürr, Thomsen

    The German squad:


    Margareta Kozuch (Casalmaggiore / ITA), Maren Brinker (Montichiari / ITA), Wiebke Silge (SC Potsdam), Laura Weihenmaier (Ladies in Black Aachen), Lena Stigrot (Rote Raben Vilsbiburg)
    Berit Kauffeldt (Lokomotiv Baku / AZE) Lenka Dürr (Wroclaw / POL), Lisa Thomsen (NN), Kathleen Weiss (Prostejov / CZE), Jennifer Pettke (VC Wiesbaden)
    Anja Brandt, Jennifer Geerties (both Schweriner SC), Heike Beier (Bielsko Biala / POL), Mareen Apitz (Azeryol Baku / AZE)


    Surprised to see Kauffeldt there, Does she have some super hidden power that only coaches can see? :O

    and with positions:


    S: Weiss, Apitz
    OP: Kozuch (also OH), Stigrot (also OH)
    OH: Brinker, Beier, Weihenmaier (also OP), Geerties
    MB: Pettke, Silge, Brandt, Kauffeldt
    L: Dürr, Thomsen


    I agree about seeing Kauffeldt there, she's been so useless recently, so Denise Hanke has :wavy:

    Gold medal - World League 2013 Prediction Game
    Bronze medal - World League 2012 Prediction Game

    There is an interesting article in Volleyball Magazin today, it says both Saskia Hippe and Louisa Lippmann left the team on their own accord and not because Pedulla sent them home. It says that Lippmann considered herself not in a shape to help the team, but she herself did not make any public statement.


    Pedulla still hopes that Fürst will return for OQT.

    I read two interesting articles about NT players today. First one is about Corina Ssuschke-Voigt, she says she really wants to play Olympics and offered Pedulla to play for NT in January, she is currently practising with her new club team and says she feels very fit.


    The other one is about Louisa Lippmann who explains why she left NT before ECH. She says the summer was very hard for her, the team got disappointing results and she simply couldn't perform well, she felt worse and worse and during the tournament in Rio she decided to quit the team for now and free her head to get back the joy for playing volleyball. She says she wants to become mentally stronger and then return to NT because this is where she wants to play. Actually what she says sounds very well and proves character, I hope she'll make her way :flower:

    DVV announced today, that Luciano Pedulla will no longer be headcoach of German NT. Shortly, DVV will announce who´s gonna coach the team in Ankara.

    Who on earth did they expect to find as a replacement, with all national leagues already started? And who would sign a contract for 2 months, knowing that there will be another replacement since they will not qualify for Rio?


    I actually saw a quite improved German team :white:

    That most likely means we shouldn't expect anything good from German team.
    I wonder who applied for the spot, perhaps Barbollini and Abbondanzza did.

    Quote from JoanaBG

    Have they given up on the Olympics or what? I see no reason to fire Pedulla, unless he wanted out himself. The team actually performed above expectations at the ECh.

    Knowing the Germany mentality, they probably expected this team to go again all the way to the gold medal final at the ECH, then grab another "champions of the hearts"/ herzweltmeisterschaft (whatever it means, usually silver medal or 4th place) and easily qualify for Rio, like the 2014 WCH was a collective dream that only the Italian coach was responsible for.


    I really have no words, Germany played a very respectable tournament at the ECH.

    Quote from vabo

    Knowing the Germany mentality, they probably expected this team to go again all the way to the gold medal final at the ECH, then grab another "champions of the hearts"/ herzweltmeisterschaft (whatever it means, usually silver medal or 4th place) and easily qualify for Rio, like the 2014 WCH was a collective dream that only the Italian coach was responsible for.


    I really have no words, Germany played a very respectable tournament at the ECH.