The Next Big Thing in Volleyball: Seppe Rotty
Feature
Belgium finished on the 18th place at the last edition of EuroVolleyM, counting on their roster on star Sam Deroo and some young aspiring players such as Wout D’Heer and Liam Mc Cluskey. Even though it wasn’t the best performance of the team, just some weeks later, the Young Red Dragons proved at the U21 World Championship that the future looks bright for that generation of players. Led by outside hitter Seppe Rotty, Belgium finished fifth in the world, leaving behind co-hosts of the competition Bulgaria.
Rotty maintained his good performance throughout the whole tournament in Sardinia, and finished as best scorer (137 pts) and best attacker (119 pts).
20-year old, Seppe is still playing in the Belgian league, for Decospan volley Team Menen. He is currently second-best server with 0,57 aces per set, fourth among the best scorers (4,13 pts/set), and is part of the temporary composition of the dream team of the league.
Rotty is still exploring his potential on a home soil, but watch out for him, as he might very well be The Next Big Thing in Volleyball.
The Beginning
Seppe wasnt’s supposed to take up on Volleyball, as his family members play tennis. 190 cm tall, Rotty actually started with this sport and athletics, but eventually switched to Volleyball. At the age of six, on his way to an athletics training, the young boy arrived way too early, and while waiting, entered the sports hall where the local Volleyball club was having try-outs. By chance, Seppe joined the club, and as he says, smiling, “accidentally landed in the Volleyball world”.
Going Pro
Until the age of 15, Volleyball was still a hobby for Seppe, but once he had received an invitation for the Volleyball school of Belgium, he gave it a thought and decided this can be his career path.
“After finishing the Volleyball school, at the age of 18, I got an offer from Menen to join their team. This was the perfect move for my career, as I could train every day and still combine it with my studies in Industrial civil engineering at the University of Gent.”
Seppe is thankful to all the coaches that have made him believe Volleyball could be his career, seeing his potential.
Seppe Rotty“I have worked with some really good coaches as Frank Depestele from the Menen team. Some coaches sometimes saw in me more than I did! In the Volleyball school I worked a lot Kris Eyckmans (coach of the U21 team of Belgium). He made me believe that I can make a career in the volleyball world.”
Player of Belgium U21
The Present
Part of Decospan Volley Team Menen Belgium, Seppe is trying to learn and improve on a daily basis.
“The objectives for our team are always reaching the play-offs and try to get as close as possible to the top teams in Belgium. This year we're not doing bad, we have a quite young team and already showed that we can reach a good level.”
The National team
Belgium’s U21 delivered a good performance last September at the Worlds, and to Seppe, the experience of being fifth in the world was a really good one.
“We reached our best level, and I even think we could have finished even better. Beause of that, we were a little disappointed, but eventually, we knew that we did a great job and showed that we have a lot of potential in our team.”
Seppe Rotty“It was very nice finishing as best scorer at the competition. It was an acknowledgement for the hard work I did in the past. It gives me even more motivation to keep going and to train even harder. And show everybody that you can become a good player, even if you’re not the tallest one. I still need to improve a lot to reach the top.”
Player of Belgium U21
As for the senior team, Seppe has already had an experience with the senior team in 2021, in the Golden EuroLeague, and he is looking forward to showing even more in the future.
The Inspiration and the Dream
Rotty didn’t know a lot about Volleyball when he was a kid, and he says he doesn’t have a Volleyball hero. However, he always find it inspiration to see how not that tall players like Kubiak, Protopsaltis and Ishikawa can reach the highest level.
Seppe Rotty“I dream to play in one of the top leagues, of course. But my biggest dream is to compete in the Olympic Games for my country.”
Player of Belgium U21