Former world champion Marco Bonitta to lead Slovenian women’s national team
News
The Volleyball Federation of Slovenia has announced that renowned Italian Volleyball expert Marco Bonitta will be leading their women’s national team at the 2022 Silver European League and EuroVolley 2023 qualifiers.
Bonitta, who signed a two-year contract, is already looking forward to a new challenge. “For me, working with the Slovenian national team is a great motivation and one of the two reasons why I decided to accept the offer. The other is that when President Metod Ropret invited me to be a part of this project, I immediately felt a positive attitude. I could sense the passion in his words, but also the clear ambition to take the Slovenian women’s team as close as possible to the successes of the men’s team. I am also very proud that the Volleyball Federation of Slovenia remembered me and invited me to join them on this journey. This journey may be long, it may be short, but I instantly knew that I wanted to be a part of this project.”
Marco Bonitta“Both competitions are important to us, but the EuroVolley qualifiers will have more weight. Through the European League, we will try to understand what we need to work on more and better to achieve the important goal that we have set for August. Qualifying for EuroVolley would bring us a double challenge - competing against the best European teams and trying to beat one of such teams. Slovenia had a quite successful 2019 EuroVolley but we can achieve more. I am confident of that.”
Newly appointed head coach of Team Slovenia
The Slovenian women’s national team has so far competed twice at the European Championship, they have twice been very close to qualifying for the Golden European League, but now it is about time to move further. The new head coach, who will lead the Slovenian girls in the 2022 CEV Silver European League and the CEV EuroVolley 2023 qualifiers, is aware of it.
The renowned 58-year-old Italian Volleyball expert also revealed a part of the philosophy behind his way of working: “Volleyball has changed a lot through the years that I have been acting as a coach. Not only Volleyball, but also everything around it has changed but one thing that is extremely important has remained the same: mutual trust and honesty. That we are doing things in a way that we said that we would be doing them. That when we decide together to do something, we really do it together. That is always the first step of my coaching philosophy. The team needs to believe in itself. It needs to believe that I believe in the team and that I believe in myself. The Slovenian national team is a combination of players with experience, so players who have already experienced a high-level game, and a group of young and promising ones. It is a good combination and I am already looking forward to working with the Slovenian team. I am sure we will work well and enjoy the time together.”
Bonitta will gather the national team for the first time in April in Kranjska Gora. Among the highlights of his coaching career is the historic gold medal he claimed with Italy at the 2002 FIVB Women’s World Championship in Germany.