Villam and Kun bring Hungary back to EuroBeachVolley after 21 years
News
It has taken as many as 21 years for a women’s team from Hungary to return to compete at EuroBeachVolley. Csilla Gudmann and Barbara Kovacs were the last to compete at this top level in Moscow in 2005. Lilla Villam and Stefania Flora Kun achieved this feat on Wednesday in Stare Jablonki – just a few weeks after enjoying a truly life-changing experience when they played the CEV Beach Volley Nations Cup Final before a large, passionate crowd in Budapest downtown. An event that has literally changed the course of Beach Volleyball in Hungary.
“We feel very lucky and privileged,” says Villam. “We have played tournament after tournament for some five weeks now, and obviously during today’s second matchup we did feel there was little energy left in the tank, but the experience has been overwhelmingly positive. We are extremely proud that we could represent Hungary at EuroBeachVolley and even more so since we could that after crowning ourselves national champions this past Sunday,” she adds. “We basically came here straight from the national championship – even more motivated to do our best to represent our country as best as we could.”
Volleyball and especially Beach Volleyball are experiencing some sort of a re-birth in Hungary, a country that has produced an endless list of champions in a variety of sports such as athletics, swimming, water polo, fencing, pentathlon – to name only a few. “The National Federation has been extremely supportive, and not only from a financial standpoint. You can tell that there is a growing focus on quality coaching and we ourselves have a Brazilian coach,” adds Kun. “They see that there is a perspective and the real possibility to achieve some good results and they are investing for the continued growth of the sport.”
Early on Wednesday, Lilla and Stefania lost their opening pool match to Switzerland’s well-established heavyweights Joana Mäder (Heidrich) and Leona Kernen, after dissipating even a match point. “It is encouraging for us to see that we are not so distant from the elite of the sport and that we can put up a fight even against such experienced teams,” comments Villam. “It motivates us to work even harder and it shows while there is room for improvement, we are slowly but surely closing the gap with the top countries and teams.”
The growth is especially evident in age-group competitions, where Hungary has achieved podium finishes and even Kun herself finished fourth at last year’s U20 World Championships in Mexico with Chiara Honti-Majoros.
Lilla Villam“These results from age-group championships show that there is real potential and they provide a further boost for the Federation to invest in our sport. We are supported with travel, accommodation, meals, and especially with quality coaching. The trajectory is definitely positive and we take many good memories and lessons from this experience here at EuroBeachVolley. We really want to come back next year when the event takes place in Switzerland and hopefully we will achieve a better result.”
The momentum is there – not only in Beach Volleyball, since earlier this summer Hungary finished with a historic bronze medal their participation at the #EuroVolleyU18W co-hosted by Latvia and Lithuania. Lilla and Stefania Flora certainly will not let another 21 years pass before they compete at the highest level again.
