Earthquake in volleyball Dukla: Italian coach and mass departures

After a solid regular season, the final phase of the last season did not go well for the Liberec volleyball players. They did not reach the Final Four in the Czech Cup, they lost 0:3 in the quarterfinals of the extra league against Příbramí, and the club’s management therefore reacted with fundamental changes.

The main one is that for the first time in the more than three quarters of a century long history of the army unit, the men of Dukla will be led by a foreign coach. Martin Démara is replaced by the 45-year-old Italian coach Alessandro Lodi.

“We expect great professionalism from him, which should join the club with him. He trained in various places around the world, where he gained experience, and I like him as a type for the team we want to put together for next year,” said VK Dukla sports director Jakub Veselý.

“Experienced and high-quality Czech coaches already have their engagements and we wanted to add new blood, a new impulse to the team. Maybe it’s a risk, but in the future we want to work mainly with young Czech players, for whom a coach from abroad will be something new,” explained Pavel Šimoníček, director of the Liberec club. “Vladan Merta, a seasoned coach, remains the assistant, and we have agreed with experienced recorder Lukáš Ticháček that, in addition to his playing role, he will also hold the position of second, playing assistant,” explained Šimoníček.

“The men finished the season below our expectations, the team had the potential to play for medals, which unfortunately did not materialize, that’s why we have several changes in the squad,” noted Veselý.

Seven players end up in Dukla: Démar, Nivaldo, Johansen, Jemeljanovs, Urueňa, Staněk and Maar. “The new faces are blocker Šábrt, all-rounder Toman and sweeper Svoboda, I believe they will be hungry for success and help. We are discussing other names,” Veselý added.

Unexpected departures after silver

Despite a very successful season, nine players end up in Liberec, which is not so usual. “The women deserve a discharge, for the first time in our history they won the cup, for the first time they went to the final of the extra league play-off, it’s just a pity that it didn’t work out as a double. However, nine players are leaving our successful squad, which is bad, I’m sorry, and in the future we have to think about how to prevent this from happening,” said Šimoníček.

The main star Nikola Kvapilová is closing her long chapter in Liberec, who is heading to Prostějov, then Robinsová-Hardyová, Frankevyčová, Herdová, captain Vyklická, Kateřina Kvapilová, Mellová, Démarová and Dvořáková are leaving.

What is behind such a massive departure of props after a successful season? “There are more reasons, there is a great demand for players from a successful team. Moreover, some have their ambitions and dreams and may have made the decision to leave prematurely. The market is alive in January when there was no way they would win the cup and finish second in the league. For some it makes sense to me, for some it doesn’t,” says Veselý, who did not want to comment on speculations about possible disagreements between certain players and the implementation team.

“Coach Libor Gálík remains with the team, the results were excellent and we have no reason to change it. The new reinforcements are the blocker Körmendyová and the smasher Pavlíková from KP Brno, others are being discussed,” Veselý said.