Finnish NT Season 2011

    I decided to open topic of the Finnish NT, although there is only one certain name at the moment in the team. As most of you know Daniel Castellani replaces Mauro Berruto as the head coach. Assisting coach will probably be Finnish.
    Tuomas Sammelvuo announced this week that he will try to make it back to the NT. He is optimistic about recovery from the knee injury and he should be allowed to jump again in March. He said that he aims to participate World League as well as well Euro Ch'ships. Of course coach Castellani has not yet released his list of players taking part in the World League preparations, so we will see if Sammelvuo can make it. Sammelvuo said that originally Castellani called hi and asked him to his coaching staff, but he said that he still wants to play.


    Also at the moment 250 Finnish fans 250 have confirmed their attendance the Euro Ch'ships.


    So, probably the next news from Finnish NT are regarding the coaching team composition and the World League squad.

    Thank you for this topic. In my opinion Finnish NT has increased a lot last years. There are quite many Finnish players in strong clubs/leagues nowadays!


    I think Castellani can push to team to even higher level. He is a topcoach!

    Good luck to Finnish NT. Castelani were a great choise.


    Wilsu, what can u tell about finnish league?? is there any good young player who can play in NT this year??


    Castelani likes to have young players in NT so i think Sammeulvuo will not have a chance. And i think there r some good options as OH like Kunnari, Siltala and Sivula. MBs is a problem in my opinion.

    In my opinion Sammelvuo could be among the four OHs, if he gets back to form. But let's see what are the choices of Castellani.
    About Finnish league:



    Competition in the league is very even; e.g. top-6 teams are within 6 points and top-9 teams are within 17 points. It is going to be tough competition for the last playoffs place. I think it is ok quality league, maybe similar to Dutch league, not any higher
    Young players in the league:


    It seems that currently the most talented youngsters are foreign. Two very promising opposites are Latvian Hermans Egleskalns (profile, stats) and Colombian Roland Jimenez (profile, stats).
    OHs there are some promising young guys such as Ossi Rumpunen, Antti Poikela and 17-year-old Niklas Seppänen (still playing in 1st division). But these guys are not yet the NT level, so we'll have to wait for at least year or two to see what kind of players they develop into.
    MBs we don't have many young guys coming at the moment. Also starting setters are mostly rather old or foreign, but the most promising setters are Petteri Penttinen (too short?) and Kalle Määttä (has not developing much in recent years).

    Thanks wilsu for the info. :drink:

    Finnish Volleyball Association have appointed Jussi Heino as the assistant coach to Daniel Castellani. He is rather new as a coach, but especially this year he has done good work with Isku-Volley. They are currently playing in semifinals of Finnish Championship League. Heino is also a former pro player and he played many years abroad in Germany (Vfb Friedrichschafen), Belgium (Noliko Maaseik) and Austria (Hot Wolleys Wien). In the season 2004-2005 he was selected as the best libero of the CEV Champions' League.


    ---


    Daniel Castellani has selected the group for summer's World League:



    Setters:


    Mikko Esko
    Eemi Tervaportti
    Jani Sippola
    Kalle Määttä


    Middleblockers:
    Konstantin Shumov
    Matti Oivanen
    Jukka Lehtonen
    Henri Tuomi
    Anssi Vesanen
    Sauli Sinkkonen


    Outsidehitters:
    Olli Kunnari
    Antti Siltala
    Urpo Sivula
    Tuomas Sammelvuo
    Matti Hietanen
    Tuomas Tihinen
    Jari Tuominen
    Joni Savimäki
    Tomi Mutka


    Opposites:
    Mikko Oivanen
    Joni Mikkonen


    Liberos:
    Tommi Roininen
    Lauri Hakala
    Jarmo Korhonen
    Pasi Hyvärinen



    The group is much like expected. Ojansivu is missing due to injury, but Esko is included and hopefully he will recover before summer from the hand injury. Kunnari and Sammelvuo are both making comeback to the NT after last year's hiatus. Also Lauri Hakala is interesting choice for libero, since he is still playing semifinals as an outside hitter, although there are rumours that his knee is bad condition and ready to be operated. He is also quite active volleyball blogger and member of board of administration in the Finnish Volleyball Association.

    The final 20 player roster for the summer's WL is the following:
    Setters:
    Mikko Esko


    Eemi Tervaportti
    Jani Sippola


    Middleblockers:
    Konstantin Shumov
    Matti Oivanen
    Jukka Lehtonen
    Henri Tuomi
    Sauli Sinkkonen


    Outsidehitters:
    Olli Kunnari
    Antti Siltala
    Urpo Sivula
    Tuomas Sammelvuo
    Matti Hietanen
    Tuomas Tihinen
    Jari Tuominen


    Opposites:
    Mikko Oivanen
    Joni Mikkonen


    Liberos:
    Tommi Roininen
    Jarmo Korhonen
    Pasi Hyvärinen


    Five players were cut from the roster at the last stage. Interestingly there is only one actual setter (Jani Sippola) in the current training group, since Mikko Esko is away due to hand injury (he should be back quite soon, though) and Eemi Tervaportti is still playing for Avignon Volley in the French B league playoffs.
    ---
    Finnish NT will play two practice matches against China in Finland on 21st and 22nd of May.

    Finnish NT starts training camp for the EC on 25th of July. Players for the first two weeks are the following:
    Setters: Esko, Tervaportti
    Opposites: Oivanen Mi, Sivula, Ojansivu
    OHs: Sammelvuo, Siltala, Kunnari, Hietanen, Tuominen, Kankaanpää
    MBs: Oivanen Ma, Shumov, Lehtonen, Sinkkonen, Kutinlahti
    Liberos: Hyvärinen, Mäntylä




    In this group both of the liberos have changed and last year's libero duo Hyvärinen/Mäntylä is back. Also Ojansivu is trying to make comeback after serious back injury.



    They will play also many training matches during the preparation period, e.g. in Russia on 5th-7th of Aug, Slovenia (tournament with Slovakia, Iran and the home team) and in Finland (against Netherlands and Estonia)

    Castellani selected the Finnish team for the ECH:
    # Name Born Length Role Club 2011-2012 Caps
    2 Eemi Tervaportti 26.7.1989 193 S GFCO Ajaccio (FRA) 37
    3 Mikko Esko 3.9.1978 198 S Modena (ITA) 188
    5 Antti Siltala 14.3.1984 193 OH Bydgoszcz (POL) 127
    6 C Tuomas Sammelvuo 16.2.1976 193 OH - 265
    7 Matti Hietanen 3.1.1983 199 OH Gdansk (POL) 162
    8 Jari Tuominen 11.9.1986 200 OH Cantu (ITA) 33
    10 Urpo Sivula 15.3.1988 195 OPP SCC Berlin (GER) 92
    11 Jesse Mäntylä 24.3.1987 176 L Hurrikaani 33
    12 Olli Kunnari 2.2.1982 196 OH VaLePa 164
    13 Mikko Oivanen 26.5.1986 198 OPP Gdansk (POL) 117
    14 Konstantin Shumov 15.2.1985 205 MB Monza (ITA) 119
    15 Matti Oivanen 26.5.1986 198 MB Nizhni Novgorod (RUS) 139
    18 Jukka Lehtonen 22.2.1982 197 MB Citta di Castello (ITA) 81
    19 Pasi Hyvärinen 22.11.1987 184 L - 56

    I am curious of their form of ECH. may be the dark horse :D
    GO FINNISH :super: :box:


    "Volleyball is a fantastic way of life, really. it is
    beautiful adventure, which gives a lot of joy not only to those sports "


    It is our passion gives us wings, lifts us above all else.
    It gives a million reasons to rejoice, learns to overcome fear and weakness.
    Thanks to develop and learn to fight for every day    :win:

    With this terminator Oivanen, brilliant Esko, Kunnari in good shape, Shumov and unbelievable Pasi Hyvärinen for me they are always a dark horse.
    I can't wait to see Mikko again :roll: