World Championships start in almost month. Coaches are still choosing rosters, but there are some players who can pack their clothes right now. And that’s the point which I want to talk about.

 

Talking about stars I thought who was among best players 4 years ago that’s reason why You see this photo.

As we know things are changing, there we had old awarding system with best spiker (Tatiana Kosheleva), blocker (Christiane Furst), server (Maret Grothues), libero (Stacy Sykora), receiver (Logan Tom), setter (Qiuyue Wei), scorer (Neslihan Darnel, now Demir) and MVP (Ekaterina Gamova).

From last year FIVB is using new system with MVP and best line-up of tournament, however I think that system of awarding is still controversial and we could see it on last awards ceremony after World Grand Prix in Tokyo last Sunday.

Coming back to stars: I chose two line-ups, of course not everyone could be included. There are some players who can find also here, but there are only 14 places…


Line-up 1 (Brazil):

Stars 1

Some people may think that I’m just lazy, but this is the team which is already ready to win huge competitions.
Just look at team’s summary: 39 points in 14 matches with 13-1 wins-losses, mopreover they lost only 6 sets, winning 41! That’s a team!

Talking about each player:

– Danielle Lins (Setter)
29 years old
Club: Molico Osasco
Height/Weight: 181 cm/68 kg
Spike/Block: 290/276

She’s brain of the team. She has real comfort of playing because of reliable hitters, not only on wings, but also in the middle. Thanks to good reception she can do with ball whatever she wants. She is sometimes criticised because of playing too ordinarily and making wrong choices, but nobody’s perfect!

– Fernanda Garay (Outside Hitter 1)
28 years old
Club:
Dinamo Krasnodar
Height/Weight: 179 cm/74 kg
Spike/Block: 308/288

This girl was like a supernova, joining to NT from nowhere. We all know that Brazilian NT was always a hermetic group of players and it was hard for new players to join there. Her chance appeared after series of unfortunate injuries by Mari and Paula in 2010. Both Outside Hitters didn’t get back to their best shape after injuries, while Garay used her chance. After World Championships in Japan 4 years ago Fe Garay is constant member of NT. She’s rather all-round OH, not tall with quite stable reception and strong spiking skills, someone like Lucia Bosetti or Anna Werblińska. In NT coach Jose Roberto Guimaraes uses her as offensive OH – OH1.

Fabiana Claudino (Middle Blocker 1)
29 years old

Club: Sesi Sao Paulo
Height/Weight: 193 cm/76 kg
Spike/Block: 314/293

She got huge experience, playing more than 10 years with NT, now she’s team captain. The best blocker of many tournaments and the best MB in last World Grand Prix. Together with 2nd MB, Thaisa they’re definitely the best pair of middles.

Sheilla Castro (Opposite)
31 years old
Club: VakifBank Istanbul
Height/Weight: 185 cm/64 kg
Spike/Block: 308/288

Another player with huge experience and I can’t remember NT without her in last few years. Another wing-spiker Mari had to be converted from right to left wing because of tough rivalry between them before Olympic Games in Athens. She not only uses power but also her brain so as to score as often as possible. She sometimes may have bad day and was a bit weaker at start of World Grand Prix, but she does her best in the most important tournaments and she proved it many times.

Jaqueline Carvalho (Outside Hitter 2)
30 years old
Club:
Height/Weight:
186 cm/70 kg
Spike/Block:
302/286

I’m so impressed by this girl and I’ll always defend her for her skills on court. Not only she is so pretty, but also she made huge effort for the team throughout many years. She’s smart spiker and she can help here like in Olympic Games final in London, but her biggest asset is tough work in back row. Her passing and defence skills are just outstanding. Thanks to this Dani Lins has easier job. Jaque had also some personal problems, but she’s coming back after giving a birth and she came back as if she wasn’t on any break! She’s still without club, but it’s mostly because of scoring system in Brazilian league… She’s complete rather defensive OH, in my opinion she should have got an award for the best OH for this World Grand Prix.

Thaisa Menezes (Middle Blocker 2)
27 years old
Club:
Molico Osasco
Height/Weight:
196 cm/79 kg
Spike/Block:
316/301

2nd middle presents even better in Fabiana in last years! She’s queen of the net, killer in terms of spiking, great server and her setting skills as middle are just  unbelievable. She was MVP in World Grand Prix 2013, surprisingly she didn’t get any award in this year…

Camila Brait (Libero)
25 years old
Club:
Molico Osasco
Height/Weight:
170 cm/58 kg
Spike/Block: 
271/256

After Fabi’s retirement before World Grand Prix 2014 she finally became first Libero. Many people worried that she won’t deal with it. But she did almost as good job as her predecessor. Thanks to vsmart policy Camila is with NT from 5-6 years as natural replacement for Fabiana De Oliveira. She didn’t shine in last season in Brazilian league, but her performance in WGP was at least decent and she’s not a weak spot.

In second part I’ll present 2nd line-up.