Good (and surprising) news from Hamburg: the club will start as "Volleyball Team Hamburg" in 2nd league next season and intends to make their way back to 1st league in the next few years...
Yes, that is surprising. Karine Muijlwijk will play for us and I hope that 4-5 another Girls from last Season will stay here. They will installed a second Team . Hope they learn from the mistakes of the last years.
Interesting Finals, Stuttgart is a very interesting team with a great spirit. Overall I think dresden has more quality especially on the outsides. Anyways... i think it's good to have a close final, may excite the people. and increase popularity of the sport.
But it is a fact, that many teams have to rely on foreign (especially) players. I guess it is due to
a.) College sport in the US, where there are a lot of good players who after 4 years of college want to continue to play and go overseas with not too big demands on salary, because they just want to play and travel.
b.) Relatively low income: to be a professional athlete you have to sacrifice a lot of other things (if you combine school/or work with practice everyday it might affect social life a lot) which are not recompensated economically in volleyball. of course this differs from player to player... you see how the teams struggle to survive finacially
c.) Low status of Volleyball as sport. Germany is all about football, football and football... volleyball is not very visible in media, so less people go to watch, less money etc...
all that leads to structures where its difficult to attract talents, plus the gap from 2nd to first league is rather big, so there lacks a option for young players to be starters and gain experience to even compete with the already professionals.
anyways... from Hamburg its a good sign, that they try to survive.. i guess with a fresh start they can install structures for long term success. Hamburg is a city with many opportunities (study, jobs, ...) for young girls who want to play 2nd league and combine it with work/school. I doubt tho, that
I doubt that many players will stay for the 2nd league team of hamburg, if they have no reason to stay in the city. If they can keep the Hamburg-based players Muijlwijk, Radzuweit and Braack and the Bench players from last season there is a really good foundation for a strong 2nd league team... lets see...
>But yes, it's a problem. There are only few German players on a high level, and they request a much higher salary than many foreign players. For example Maren Brinker probably earns much more than Michelle Bartsch, even though in direct comparison I think Bartsch is a much better player. That's why the teams that are fighting for championship simply have to rely on foreign players.
I think, that in the current season Maren Brinker is not performing on her usual level, she can at least play as well as Bartsch and is an experienced national player. And I think too, that the expectations of German players are justified and it is a pity, that our clubs can't grant higher salaries, so the weak finances of German clubs are to blame, not the players IMHO.
>The real problem IMO is that many good German players are sitting on the benches of the good teams (Izquierdo, Schwabe, Lippmann, Hindriksen in Dresden mainly, Schölzel in Schwerin) instead of being key players for another team. But then, I doubt that Lippmann could perform on the same level as for example Grobelna if she was starter in Stuttgart (where she is rumored to play next season).
Yesterday our Kaja Grobelna even outperformed Dresdens number one opposite Kristina Mikhailenko. And yes, it would be not that easy for Louisa Lippmann to get playing time in Stuttgart, until she plays better again - but I don't know, if this will be real, effectively I don't know about Kajas, Deborahs nor Louisas state regarding negotiations...
Of course you have to blame the weak finances of clubs, but that is a thing difficult to change. We could start a huge discussion that volleyball teams have to pay a whole season with everything with what one football player gains per season. But that's a sad reality...
Sometimes the good german players who choose to play at a top team but on the Bench, take advantage of a higher quality of practice than they would have on the "weaker teams" where you have less competition for your position. This year for example Hamburg took Imoudu and Poll who were bench players in Schwerin the year before and put them into key position with good result... In the strong teams you have to prove that you earned your chance...
What's always interesting to see, is how the VCO Girls do in the "Real Teams"... I really wonder how many court time Drewniok will get in Potsdam...
Thank you everyone for responding. Seing Germany as being such a great country in sports it is socking to see that they basically don`t have a "school of volleyball" at all. And volleyball not being so popular and not financially rich, well that problem happens everywhere,but they should at least have a better instructure/system to help in developing players. Im sure if they had that, then girls would get more involved and fall in love for the sport and later choose to be a volleyball player without thinking of the financial benefit.
It is like here in the USA. Kids at a young age are "forced" to play sports in school, and they end up liking it, then the esay way to College is playing sports, which "forces" them to keep playing, by the time they are done with college, the sport is alreday apart of who they are. And they choose to keep playing.
This makes me love the Germans players even more, which means they had to fight really hard to achieve a high level.
It is ok to have/count on foreign players, for example USA probably has the best sports system in the World, and especially for Baskteball, and would be surprising for a lot of people to see over 100 foreign players in the NBA. Making 30% foreign and 70% american.
and I think teams of any sport gets the benefit of having foregin players, because when you are foregein you get more pressure, and pressure to give 100% all the time.
I dont watch lot of Baskteball, but last night I was watching NBA playoffs Dallas vs Oaklhoma City and for example Dirk Nowwitzki at age 37 German was the highest score for Dallas and Enes Canter 23 years old from Turkey was highest score for OKC.
MLB ( USA Baseball League) has 230 foregein and 750 americans, making it 26% foreign and 74% american.
But then .....
NHL ( USA National Hockey League) only 25% are american.
MLS ( USA Soccer League) Almost 50% of the starters are foreign, which means in Soccer USA is trying really hard to reach a international level, but they are giving the space for foreign and not the americans, and the reason is because foreign players makes the league stronger and more popular. But to keep the league stronger they gotta keep bringing players overseas and keep the americans on the bench.
And this is what happens a lot in volleyball in countries like Germany/Turkey for example. They are focusing on a popular and stronger league, but forgetting its own players. I would ad even Italy on this list also...
different than Brazil, Russia, China and Japan for example, they only have a few foreigners each season. And tht`s why they keep winning Olympics, World Championships etc.....
I would love to see Germany or Turkey winning a Olympic for example, but I dont think that will ever happen...
Brinker is just not having a good season. Last years Grand Prix she was the 4th best scorer overall.
And with all the respect Italian League is stronger than German. And For example Brinker played for the 8th best team, which means she played vs a bunch of the best players in the world and a bunch of strong teams.
Bartash is playing for the strongest team this season in Germany, vs great teams, but not stronger than the ones in Italy.
And when Bartash played in the CL league vs stronger teams like Moscow for example, she was a "no show".
If Brinker was playing in the German League this season Im sure she would be a "star" like Bartash. And Im pretty sure Bartash would not be this "start" she`s in germany in Italy....
That's not correct, they have Lisa Thomsen and until recently Jelena Wlk.
But yes, it's a problem. There are only few German players on a high level, and they request a much higher salary than many foreign players. For example Maren Brinker probably earns much more than Michelle Bartsch, even though in direct comparison I think Bartsch is a much better player. That's why the teams that are fighting for championship simply have to rely on foreign players.
The real problem IMO is that many good German players are sitting on the benches of the good teams (Izquierdo, Schwabe, Lippmann, Hindriksen in Dresden mainly, Schölzel in Schwerin) instead of being key players for another team. But then, I doubt that Lippmann could perform on the same level as for example Grobelna if she was starter in Stuttgart (where she is rumored to play next season).
Pettke, Alanko and Stöhr leaves Wiesbaden.
I hope Jenni Pettke comes to MTV Stuttgart.
I hope Jenni Pettke comes to MTV Stuttgart.
This would be an option for us, for sure. But a number of interested foreign clubs is paying much higher salaries and Pettke is a German national, therefore not cheap...
Irina Kemmsis for 2 years to VC Wiesbaden.
VC Wiesbaden
Mona Elwassimy and Srna Markovic renewed with Vilsbiburg.
Today, 19.00 CET, live on http://www.vbl.tv, 3rd match of the final series Dresden vs Stuttgart 
Once again in a sold out hall...
Before anyone is disappointed regarding Stuttgarts performance today: they played today their 44.th match of duty since October 2015 and the last weeks without any chance of real substitution of the OHs... for Dresden it was the 43. match for comparison (one less, because no loss in the semis of Playoffs).
4th match and the first chance for Dresden to finish the series on Saturday in Stuttgart. Stuttgart moves into a bigger hall for this match, so they won't really have a home advantage...
There is the usual home advantage, that most spectators will be Stuttgart fans of course, but the hall is not very familiar to both teams. So far I know just some German nationals know the Porsche Arena regarding playing there from World Grand Prix 2015 like Stuttgarts Lisa Thomsen or Dresdens Lisa Izquierdo and Louisa Lippmann.
And yes, because we have no chance of getting this much bigger hall sold out, we will have not that dense atmosphere like in SCHARRena.
Currently 3.500 tickets are sold for forth finals match on Saturday coming in Porsche-Arena (generic name Neue Arena 
). So we have more spectators than fit into Margon Arena, but need some more to break Bundesliga high in women's volleyball.
New record for Bundesliga women's volleyball in Germany immanent: nearly 5.000 tickets are sold for Saturdays fourth final match Stuttgart vs. Dresden in Porsche Arena...
Quoted from ThomasHH
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Pettke goes to Stuttgart
Great News. 