Labrador tells FIVB publication hoping to get medals in the future

Gibraltar youth volleyball was to feature in the FIVB official website with a special feature focusing on the development of the sport at youth level.
Under the title “Gibraltar Hope For More Volleyball Empowerment Success With CEV Junior Medals” the feature highlighted the presence of Serbian coach Tatic as having “helped establish a strong beach volleyball foundation of talented young players in Gibraltar.”
The FIVB feature report highlights how “Gibraltar Volleyball Association (GVA) first applied for coach support under the FIVB Volleyball Empowerment programme back in 2020, they envisaged a five-year journey towards national team participation in an FIVB event.”
Since then Gibraltar has already made its debut at the Beach Pro Tour, where the pair of Mathew Ressa and Liam Neish participated in the Futures event held in Cervia, Italy from 21 to 24 September.
GVA President Emma Labrador told the official CEV online publication, “sometimes the result doesn’t reflect the level of the players. The boys played well and were so comfortable playing at this level. Our juniors are now at the same level as the senior players because they got professional coaching from a young age.
“They are smaller in size but their technique is much better. Initially we used to work with local coaches, but Tatic has introduced a different level of professionalism that didn’t exist here before. He has settled in well and has been integrated into the community. He has a special bond with his players and you can see that the discipline, technique, athleticism and quality of volleyball has improved,” noted Labrador.
Labrador held “high hopes” in another upcoming pair of 14-year-olds, Matthew Stevenson and Theo Nunez. “We have combined Volleyball Empowerment and CEV’s school programme which has helped us get good players at a young age. These two pairs are showing great potential and we hope to get them further experience through zonal competitions (Small Countries Association) and one or two Futures tournaments before they play in the CEV competition,” said Labrador.
“We are hoping to get a medal and improve our ranking because this will open doors for us to participate in more FIVB events in future,” she concluded.