Trento, 07 September 2024
On Saturday evening in Rovereto the first friendly match of the season
After 37 days of preparation, the time has come for Itas Trentino men's team to make its season debut in an official match. The occasion will be provided by the friendly match that the European Champions will play on Saturday, 7 September at the Palazzetto dello Sport ‘Angelo Marchetti’ in Rovereto against the Austrian Hypo Tirol Innsbruck: kick-off is scheduled for 6 pm, with ticket presale (which is going very well - over 650 coupons already sold) also available on the internet.
A very useful test match for several reasons, coming at the end of the sixth week of pre-season activity; coach Fabio Soli will have at his disposal twelve of the fourteen players on the new roster, including the Italians Laurenzano, Lavia, Michieletto and Sbertoli, and the Slovenian Kozamernik, all of whom starred in the recent Paris Olympics. The only absentees will be the Brazilian middle blocker Flavio and the young spiker Bristot, who will join the group starting Monday. “This appointment effectively closes the first period of preparation, in which we focused our work mainly on improving the physical condition of those available to us - explained Soli - . When we started having a more consistent number of players at our disposal, we tried to up the pace because the first official commitments, starting with the Supercoppa Final Four, are approaching. In Rovereto I expect to see what we are rehearsing in training on a daily basis, and in particular I hope to see everyone ready to sacrifice themselves and work well between block and defence. Regardless of the physical and technical form and the result, I would like the team to play every ball as if it were the most important one because competitive nastiness must always be trained”.
On the other side of the net, Itas Trentino will find Innsbruck, fresh from winning its twelfth national title at the end of April, and for this reason, playing in the preliminary rounds of the Champions League in mid-September. The Tyrolean team's new coach, Italian Lorenzo Tubertini (former Modena, Piacenza, Vibo and Cisterna coach in SuperLega), can count on a renewed roster compared to the previous season; the only confirmed players are captain Kronthaler (spiker), Brazilians Frances (middle blocker) and Nath (spiker), and the other area 3 player Grabmueller. Among the newcomers are the Bulgarian opposite player Dimov, the Austrian hammer Ladner (returning) and the Americans Hobus (spiker) and Paulson (middle blocker). In the Hypo Tirol staff there are also three old acquaintances of Trentino Volley such as Martin Nemec (second coach in the 2014/15 season, which ended with the Scudetto victory), Stefan Chrtiansky jr (physiotherapist, in Trento between 2012 and 2013 as the team's spiker, winning the Scudetto, World Cup and Italian Cup) and Martin Poeder (athletic trainer between 2009 and 2017).
For the two clubs, this will be a remake of the match played 18 years ago (7 December 2006), also in the same arena and also in a friendly; Trento won 3-1. The event's organising committee, made up of Lions Club Rovereto Fortunato Depero, Lagaris Volley and the Municipality of Rovereto, will donate the entire proceeds of the match to the families of children suffering from onco-hematological diseases being treated at the Hospital of Trento. It will also be possible to buy tickets at the cashiers' desks of the sports hall from 5 pm onwards.
Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office