“We have many actions this year, from senior national teams to all other categories. It is necessary to provide the right conditions because the obligations of the national teams overlap in terms of dates. We have managed to do so and now we are slowly moving towards the final preparations,” said Kažić.

 

The first national team to take to the court will be the women’s senior squad, which will play the CEV Silver League this year in May and June. “We did not want the national team not to play in any competitions this year, because we have a very young, promising team, significantly rejuvenated this year, and we simply wanted them to have strong competition, and a greater number of games through the European League. Young players who are now developing and playing in serious clubs can thus gain as much experience as possible in games in the national jersey. Of course, the result is not imperative, but I think that a place in the Final Four tournament would be something with which all of us in the Federation could be satisfied and that it would be the real start of something big that awaits us, which is the qualification for the European Championship and that we finally succeed to qualify for the next EuroVolley,” Kažić commented.

The U17 men’s national team will debut at the U17 European Championship, which will be hosted in Podgorica from July 19 to 30. Kažić emphasises the experience of the Volleyball Federation of Montenegro in the organisation of important competitions: “The U17 European Championship will be the second European Championship organised by the OSCG and given that we have a phenomenal team of operational people, who have successfully implemented every possible organisation of qualifying tournaments for different age groups as well as the previous U17 European Volleyball Championship, I am sure there will not be any problems because so far we have always received the highest possible marks for the organisation from the European Volleyball Confederation,” he continued.

 

“As for our younger boys, I think it will be a valuable experience for them. We changed the system, and this year we started to gather children much more often, especially in the younger categories. They already had several weekend gatherings, they had preparations, they took part in the ‘May Tournament’ in Belgrade, and they are also expected to prepare and participate in the Balkan Championship, ahead of the preparations and the actual participation in the European Championship. We carefully selected promising boys, head coach Darko Prebiračević and me visited all the clubs, watched training sessions, many friendly tournaments, as well as the first round of qualifications for the U17 Montenegrin championship, which ended a few days ago. Certainly, we made the choice based on the perspective of Montenegrin Volleyball. We have very young boys in that selection. Some are even two or three years younger than the age limit, and they will play in the first line-up, which in itself says that next to all the other biggest European national teams, we will not be someone who will lead the way. Nevertheless, a large number, at least seven strong matches, will mean these boys can compete with the rest of Europe, and it will show us what we need to do in the future so that both men’s and women’s Volleyball will be at the highest possible level,” Kažić pointed out and added that in the upcoming period even more attention will be paid to the younger categories.

Kažić is confident that good things lie ahead for Montenegrin Volleyball

“What is certain is that all the younger selections will go to a large number of international tournaments, and we hope that through a large fund of matches, they will come and knock on the doors of the senior national teams. We will follow very carefully every new child who appears in each club and include him in the work of our national teams. From next season, we definitely plan to play pioneer leagues, both men’s and women’s, through which, by playing more games, the children will progress significantly.”