Germany NT 2015

Maren Brinker has been elected as player of the year by the readers of Volleyball Magazin. In the last 5 years it has always been Margareta Kozuch.

I hope this helps Brinker finding back her performance from summer for OQT...

Apparently the reason for Saskia Hippe's absence is that she rather wants to spend the holidays in the USA with her boyfriend (an NBA basketball player) At least she went there today...

I don't know if it's the only/main reason, but if he is more important to her than the Olympic dream, maybe it's better for her not to be there. On the other hand purely in terms of performance I'd much rather have her there than Louisa Lippmann

According to an article from a big German newspaper, Felix Koslowski, Andi Vollmer and Christian Sossenheimer are working without contract and do not even get money for their current job as NT coaches
They say that the motivation to lead the team to the Olympics is enough for them to do the job...I seriously find that quite astonishing

Short TV report about NT preparations in Schwerin.

Ssuschke says that it's very good to have Koslowski as NT coach because he knows all players since some years and knows what is important in the work. Koslowski says that it's very hard to tell players who fight very hard and give 120% in every training that they are out of the roster for the tournament.

Another TV report about NT training, mainly about the return of Fürst. Some scenes of the GER-ITA matches in there...

So, after the yet again dead Olympic dream, there are many question marks about the future of NT. First of all I don't like the attitude of players and coaches, they seem convinced that Turkey lost on purpose for whatever reasons, a Dutch newspaper even writes about insinuations that Dutch team "bought" the victory which is just ridiculous. German team should be happy that they met Dutch team on 1st day, any other day they wouldn't have had the slightest chance.

Question 1: coach. Felix Kowslowski and Andi Vollmer were the short-term solution for this tournament after DVV kicked out Pedulla. Koslowski apparently wants to continue working in Schwerin, so if DVV wants to keep him as head coach they need to find a solution for that. I want to see a stable NT coach who can build up the team for a long time and not a rotation of Italian coaches being hired and fired year by year, so basically I would be ok with Koslowski and Vollmer going on. I think they did a good job for this tournament. My favourite would still be Alex Waibl but he doesn't seem interested in the job.

Question 2: players. I'm sure the comebacks of Fürst and Ssuschke were only for this tournament and we won't see them in NT again. Now quite a few players tried to make their Olympic dream come true two or even three times and failed. There is a good chance we won't see some players anymore. I think for Heike Beier and Kathleen Weiss it's time to make room for the younger players, both certainly won't be in the mix for 2020. Jennifer Geerties can take Beier's role, she can surely reach the same level of play, if not even better. I hope Mareen Apitz continues, she would be 33 in 2020 which isn't too old for a setter. As for Maren Brinker and Maggi Kozuch, I would be very sad if they left NT now because they are irreplaceable at the moment and could play some more years on high level, both of them are still improving even though they're already 29. Brinker had her best NT summer last year and Kozuch currently is in the shape of her lifetime.

One big problem in the team is that there is a very big gap. We have many players from 83-87, and the rest are from 94 and younger, with only very few players from 88-93. German juniors from 90-91 were World Champion in their generation, but some years later only Anja Brandt and Lenka Dürr are still around in senior NT. This is also something Koslowski mentions in a first interview from today, that the big problem of Germany is that we don't manage to make the young players turn from "talents" into players on international level and we are not brave enough to use the young players more.

I would like to see some of the older players take a rest this summer, travel to Rio as tourists if they want to, and this summer play with many young players. For example there is Kimberly Drewniok, left handed OPP from 1997 who made big progress in the last year and has very big potential. The main problem, as always, is OH position. I would go with Geerties and Izquierdo as starters, but behind them it's difficult. Weihenmaier and Stigrot will probably never be receivers on international level, and the biggest talent from 96-97 Julia Schaefer is injured once again. In 98-99 there don't seem to be any great OH talents either...

As I said, there is Kimberly Drewniok (OPP, 1997). The biggest talent in Germany probably is Hanna Orthmann (1998 ), she started as MB, sometimes played as OH and now plays as OPP too, but she still plays in 2nd league
For setter position there are Denise Imoudu (1995), Irina Kemmsies (1996), Pia Kästner (1998 ) and, if she wants to play for Germany, Magdalena Gryka.
For libero, there are Anna Pogany and Lisa Stock (both 1994), and both liberos from 96/97 Junior team, Claire Bertram and Michelle Petter, are playing in 1st league, Bertram even as full time starter. But none of those players is really an outstanding talent. I hope that Sophie Dreblow (1998 ) can be a high level libero in the future, she looks more talented than the others were at her age at least...
For MB, Wiebke Silge already shows her class, and Marie Schölzel (1997) also got some chances in NT last summer. Another new player who is not so young anymore is Barbara Wezorke (1993), she spent some years on Wiesbaden's bench, then went to Brazil together with her then-girlfriend, and even though she didn't get a license to actually play in her club, the year there raised her level a lot and now she plays a very good season in Vilsbiburg.
For OH, as I said there aren't any real talents. That means, there is one, Julia Schaefer, but she had so many injuries already with just 19 years that I don't think she can physically be ready for highest level

Heike Beier and Corina Ssuschke-Voigt announced their retirement from NT.

Brinker and Kozuch are our strongest players by far, on their positions nobody can replace them at the moment. I'm not sure if they'll be able to keep that level for 4 more years, but IMO it's worth a try. Fürst will probably retire again but there has been no official news yet.