Santarelli and Mlinar
It was in January 2020, and soon after, the world was paralyzed by the coronavirus.
Therefore, everyone is looking forward to this summer and the return of the sport in full scope, because the fight against the coronavirus is becoming more successful, especially after finding a successful vaccine. This ‘new normal’ is not exactly pleasing to any of the athletes, so everyone wishes to go back to the “old times”.
Among them is, of course, Daniele Santarelli, 39-year-old selector of the Croatian women’s volleyball team since 2018, coach of the Italian top team Imoco Volley Conegliano, club world champion in 2019, who is looking forward to this summer and working again with the best Croatian volleyball players.
“In these difficult moments when the whole world sport is suffering due to the corona crisis pandemic, we are happy with the very thought that we will play at the European Championship in Croatia this summer. It is a privilege for us and we are proud to be one of the hosts of this important competition. This summer will be extremely important for the whole sport in the world, and especially for volleyball. The Croatian Volleyball Federation has been doing a good job in recent years, and the European Championship will be a real reward for Croatian volleyball. We are aware that the level of competition will be extremely demanding and difficult, but we have the whole summer to prepare in the right way, through the competitions that precede the European Championship, the Challenger Cup and the European League.”
Lucija Mlinar, a 25-year-old Croatian national team player in the position of outside spiker, who this season plays for the Italian team Bartoccini Fortinfissi Perugia, for which she signed after great seasons in Dresden, Germany and Hungary’s Békéscsabai and Mladost Zagreb, also can’t wait to see her teammates from the national team in Zadar.
“I think that hosting the group stage of the European Championship is a great opportunity for all of us. We just hope we can play in front of our fans, which would be an extra wind in the back of our game. Playing one of the groups of the European Championship in Zadar will be a nice promotion for volleyball, for the City of Zadar, for Croatia. We will do our best to achieve the best possible result at the European Championship, both for us individually and for the entire Croatian volleyball!”
