Théo Faure has learned that responsibility is not something to wait for

Five years after first stepping into France’s EuroVolley journey as a young player looking for his moment, Théo Faure arrives in Cluj-Napoca with a very different place in the team. More experienced, more settled and increasingly trusted with responsibility, the French opposite reflects on the moments that shaped him, the pressure that comes with his position and the importance of building a new identity together.

There are moments in a player’s career that seem much more important in hindsight than they did at the time.

For Théo Faure, one of them came at CEV EuroVolley 2021.

France were facing Germany in the pool phase when, at 29-29 in the opening set, the then 21-year-old was sent onto court. Two serves later, France had won the set.

Two aces. Two points. A young player making an immediate impression in a team that had arrived at the European Championship only weeks after winning Olympic gold.

Faure still remembers it clearly.

“Of course I remember that game against Germany, also because I am part German,” he says with a smile.

“That moment was intense. It was my first year with the team; they had just won the Olympic gold medal, and the atmosphere inside the group was really amazing.”

At the time, there was little reason for a young player coming from the bench to carry the weight of expectation. His job was simply to enter and play.

“The atmosphere was perfect for a player like me to go in and play freely,” Faure recalls.

Five years later, things feel different.

Not because the pressure has disappeared, but because Faure’s relationship with it has changed.

Finding his place

Faure has been part of the French national team environment since 2021, but he points to 2024 as the period when his role began to feel more substantial.

“I think it was really in 2024 that I started to understand what I could bring to the team and how I could help the team win games,” he says.

The following summer brought another step forward.

“In 2025 I had more playing time in the VNL, and I also felt the confidence growing inside the team. That helped me a lot.”

Asked what the 21-year-old version of himself would notice first about the player standing at EuroVolley today, Faure does not immediately point towards a technical skill or a physical change.

Instead, he chooses stability.

“Maybe the stability,” he says. “And the confidence that different experiences have given me.”

Those experiences have accumulated steadily.

Faure has spent years inside a French group containing players accustomed to winning the biggest trophies in international Volleyball. For someone trying to establish himself, that could easily have been intimidating. Instead, he describes it as an education.

“To grow since 2021 in a team with these amazing French players, of course it raises your level,” he says. “It also gives you examples to follow, in different aspects of Volleyball, but also in the way they manage their careers.”

Yet learning from established champions is only one part of the process. Eventually, every player has to discover what he brings himself.

“It is important to find your place,” Faure continues. “In this French group, that is something we always try to do, to let everyone have their own place.”

“It takes time to find your role and to understand what you can bring. The players before us handled that very well, and now we are trying to continue it with the younger guys.”

When everyone knows where the ball is going

Few positions expose responsibility as clearly as opposite.

There are moments when the reception is imperfect, the options become limited, and everyone in the arena understands where the next ball is likely to go.

The blockers know.

The defence knows.

The opposite knows.

And still, the ball arrives.

Faure experienced an extreme version of that responsibility during the club season with Trentino, producing a remarkable 40-point performance against Tours in the CEV Champions League.

What stayed with him was not simply the number.

It was the need to keep moving.

“That game against Tours was amazing. I was exhausted afterwards,” Faure says.

“But it is really something where you feel that every point counts and you don’t have time to think about what has already happened. You need to focus directly on the next point.”

The match stretched deep into a dramatic tie-break, forcing Faure to repeatedly leave the previous rally behind.

“If you miss an opportunity, it is important not to think too much about it because the game keeps moving forward,” he says. “You have to stay inside the game.”

It is a lesson that fits his position particularly well.

“As an opposite, of course you have a lot of responsibility in attack,” Faure explains.

Curiously, he remembers that responsibility sometimes feeling lighter when he was younger.

“At the beginning, sometimes it is easier because you feel less responsibility. You just go and play freely.”

Experience changes that.

Expectations rise. Teammates increasingly look towards you. So do opponents.

“The pressure is greater now because more people expect something from you,” he says. “But it is also a nice feeling to know that you can bring something, that you are important for the team in attack.”

And with responsibility comes something Faure mentions repeatedly: trust.

“What helps the most is feeling the confidence of the team. That gives you a lot.”

A different France and another step forward

France arrive at this EuroVolley in a slightly different moment themselves.

There are familiar faces and vast experience, but also younger players finding their way into the group and roles beginning to evolve.

Faure sees the tournament as an opportunity not only to chase another result, but to strengthen what this version of France wants to become.

“Every experience is important, especially now in our group with a new identity and some changes,” he says.

For him, the value of a championship is also found in the moments that remain after the matches themselves are over.

“The most important thing is to experience things together as a group, to create a strong identity and to live those emotions together.”

Those shared moments, Faure believes, eventually become something a team can draw upon when matches reach the situations that matter most.

“It will help us find solutions in important moments,” he says. “We hope that happens this year, but it will also be a good experience for the years that follow.”

Five years ago, Faure’s EuroVolley story could be captured in two fearless serves against Germany.

He entered without much time to think and changed a set.

Now there is more to think about.

More expectation. More responsibility. More experience.

But perhaps the lesson remains surprisingly similar.

The previous point is already gone.

The next ball is coming.