The captain of the Croatian volleyball team, 26-year-old Marko Sedlaček, a 202 cm tall receiver-attacker, is playing his best season abroad since he left Mladost for the first time in 2014. During that time, Marko played in France, and Italy, returned home, and then played in China and Turkey, but this season is 2022/23. he plays for the Italian team Top Volley Cisterna and it seems that somehow this is the most complete one.
“Yes, the season has been very successful so far and I am very satisfied with how it is going. Petar Đirlić and myself are the leaders of this team, we know each other well and the coach puts the tactics together very well which suits us all. If I were to evaluate the season so far numerically from 1-5, then it would be +4.”
Cisterna is currently in 9th position, but you too, and especially Đirlić, are the leaders in terms of statistics in the league.
“We started well with big victories against stronger opponents, but in the last few rounds, we had some defeats. We still have a chance for the playoffs, and that is our goal. For example, we are only three points away from 5th place. It should also be said that we have a very difficult schedule until the end, but I think we can reach the playoffs. We have also entered the playoffs of the Cup, which is a great success for the club. I think we are getting the most out of the team. In any case, we are not afraid, because survival has been ensured and that was actually the primary goal, everything else is an added bonus.”
You’ve obviously done well at the club, does that mean you’re staying for another year?
“Well, we’ll have to talk about that soon. I was inclined to stay because here is my former trainer from Monza, Fabio Soli, who insisted on my arrival. We have great cooperation, the only season I’ve had this good was with him while playing in Monza. But he will almost certainly move to Trentino at the end of the season, so I don’t really know what the team will look like next year, and that is very important to me. Basically, I think we will resolve it by the end of the month.”
On the club level, Marko is more than satisfied, which only means that the period of good mood from the summer and representative successes continues. This could continue this summer as well, because of the Golden Group of the European League and the Final Four in Zadar, as well as an appearance at the European Championship.
“Given that the club season is in full swing, I haven’t communicated much with our Croatian Volleyball Federation, only recently, but more related to the unfortunately premature death of our president Baković, which shook us all tremendously. But, of course, I’m looking forward to the reunion of the national team, and I just hope that the atmosphere will be as good as last summer, and there’s really no reason why it shouldn’t be. We are a great team and we work great. But…
But?
“Most likely I won’t be in the first part, in the European League, because I’m getting married on June 10, so I’ll have to skip that part and be fully prepared for the European Championship!”
While regretting that you probably won’t be at that first gathering, we can’t help but congratulate you on a private level as well. So, Marko really has a successful season in every aspect.
“I think that this decision is completely understandable and I don’t need to explain it further. And as far as the national team and the European Championship are concerned, I think we have a very difficult and demanding group, but I also believe that if we are all healthy and together, we can go to the second round of the competition. I can see how much the other national teams already respect and value us since we have become a very serious team. After all, our team Cisterna is pushing brilliantly in one of the strongest leagues in the world, the Italian one, and it’s pushing on ” Croatian wheels “.We are not the favorites in the group at the European Championship, but we are not the outsiders either“, said very optimistically at the end Marko Sedlaček, one of our most experienced volleyball internationals, who plays for Top Volley Cisterna, a place near Rome.
Thanks to direct flights to Zagreb, he has already “jumped” home several times since for players this is very important for their internal stability and balance…
