The Volleyball DNA: Viktoriia Kobzar
Editorial
This past summer was a pretty good one for the Kobzars. In a spam of just ten weeks, two members of the family won medals in some of the most important tournaments of international volleyball as Igor helped Russia take silver at the Tokyo Olympics while his younger sister Viktoriia collected gold and bronze at the U18 and U21 World Championships.
Being among the best in the world is nothing new to the 30-year-old Igor, who has been a member of the Russian national team since 2012 and has won three CEV European Champions League and two Volleyball Nations League titles in his career.
For the 17-year-old Viktoriia, though, the prolific summer was hopefully just the start of a winning career at the international level – she had enjoyed continental success in the past, winning the 2020 U18 European Championship and taking bronze in the 2019 U16 European Championship.
Viktoriia Kobzar“Our family is just very proud of us. I grew up watching Igor playing and still do it as much as I can to this day. We’re always together and he also tries to watch me play whenever he has a chance. It’s a really nice relationship we have, we’re very close.”
Russian Volleyball Player
One thing that makes their relationship even more special is the fact that they’re both setters and get to captain their national teams. As they both play in Russia, him with Zenit St. Petersburg and her with Smena, they get to be in touch frequently.
Their trajectory in the sport is just a continuation of a family tradition as their father, Andrey, played professionally in their country, while their mother, Alla, coached at the youth level, including with the Russian national team.
Having the privilege of learning and discussing with one of the best in the business in Igor has certainly helped Viktoriia’s development. And the results are already showing as she was awarded as the best setter of the U18 World Championship.
Viktoriia Kobzar“He helps me a lot. We talk a lot about setting and just the game of volleyball in general as we love the sport. It’s very helpful to have someone like him to guide me and someone I know I can always count on.”
Russian Volleyball Player
Volleyball is a true family sport. Not only because of the friendly environment found in indoor and beach tournaments around the world, but also due to the simplicity of the game, which allows people of all ages and physical abilities to play it. It’s also a captivating sport and because of that it happens often that several generations of a same family fall in love with it. Every once in a while, we can see those family connections at the professional level and that’s exactly what we’re going to show in our series ‘The Volleyball DNA’.