An earthquake in a successful team. Most female volleyball players end up in Liberec

On Sunday, they played the last match of the season against Šelmá Brno in the finals, and when the volleyball players of the army club start preparing for the next season again, a practically new team will meet. Nine players out of thirteen, including the key players from North Bohemia, are leaving the club.

“It is a big change and we will try to build a team that has medal ambitions. But no stone will be left unturned here and it is difficult to estimate what the team will be up to,” said Jakub Veselý, the sports director of Dukla Liberec. Only four volleyball players will remain from the current team, while Katarina Körmendyová and Denisa Pavlíková are to join the team.

“I am sorry that there will be such a large turnover. The fact that we were so successful this season is bad. In the future, we have to think about how to prevent this from happening,” indicated the director of Dukla, Pavel Šimoníček.

Who is leaving the VK Dukla Liberec women’s team?

Why do such earthquakes occur? “There are more reasons. Unfortunately, this is indicative of the trends in volleyball. It’s not like before, when mainly foster children played for the club, but there is a big invasion of foreigners and it affects the whole league. There is always a great demand for female players from a successful team. In addition, the players have their own ambitions and may have made the decision to leave prematurely. The market is alive in January when no one could have known they would win the cup and finish second. With some it makes sense to me, but with others it doesn’t,” Veselý explained.

Coach Libor Gálík remains. “The women’s team finished second and won the Czech Cup, we have no reason to change the coach,” answered Veselý, who did not want to comment on speculations about disagreements between some players and the implementation team.

After five seasons, its key player Nikola Kvapilová is also leaving Dukla, who will play for Prostějov. “I dealt with him two years ago and I knew they were interested in me. This year it was done. I have already played my fifth season at Dukla, and all athletes know that it is a long time to spend at one club. I already wanted a change,” explained the Slovakian all-rounder, with whom three teammates from Liberec should head to Prostějov.

“Next season, it will be a completely different Dukla for the women. Even though so many players are leaving, I believe that they will be able to put together a quality team again, the conditions for that are extremely good. I thank the club for allowing me to enter its history. I have a home and a family in Liberec and I would definitely like to come back someday, if my health allows,” concluded Kvapilová.