BR Volleys take centre stage in second episode of ‘Pass the Pod’ series

Outside hitter Cody Kessel and former setter Sebastian Kühner feature in the second episode of the ‘Pass the Pod’ series run by the CEV Digital Department to chat with top teams from the elite CEV Champions League Volley. Obviously, the BERLIN Recycling Volleys have achieved much success domestically with as many as six national championship titles in seven years, but they have become a force to reckon with internationally as well.

The team from the cosmopolite and vibrant German capital, founded in 1991 shortly after the country’s reunification, played host to a truly memorable Final Four tournament in 2015, where they claimed a historic bronze medal, before seizing the CEV Cup title a year later and finishing fourth at the #CLVolleyM Finals held in Rome in 2017. “We can say that, despite winning the first national league title a way back in 1993 the club has made it to the next level with the 2011-2012 season. It all started with the decision made by the management to play our home matches at the Max-Schmeling-Halle and the re-naming of the team following the agreement with our current sponsor. The growth and development of the club has continued steadily, and the management spares no effort to improve with each season,” Kühner acknowledges.

“It is a pleasure and a real treat to play for the BR Volleys,” Kessel says. “It is a very professionally-run club, one of the best ones in the world to this extent. The staff is doing an amazing job and they look after everything with much attention and professionalism, so we can just focus on practicing and bringing out our best game,” the American outside hitter continues.

The BR Volleys started their Champions League campaign earlier this month with a home ‘bubble tournament’, which the Polish team of JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel could unfortunately not attend after some of their players had tested positive to the novel coronavirus. “On one hand, it is a good thing for the BR Volleys, because we could secure an extra win but on the other hand, you always wish to play the top teams in Europe and therefore their forfeit was very unfortunate,” Kühner says.

Kessel emphasises that the main goal is to make it out of the pool stage of the competition. “We achieved a 3-0 victory in a hard-fought match with ACH Volley LJUBLJANA but after that we could not quite match the level of Zenit KAZAN. We know that this team has a lot of potential and we hope to be able to deliver our best game in February for the second round of competition in the pool and the most important stage of the 2020-2021 season.”

Just like many other teams in Europe, the BR Volleys have to play their home matches without any spectators, which is a bit of a weird feeling especially for players used to perform before an average of more than 4,000 people throughout the season. “It is obvious that we miss our fans and the atmosphere that they bring, but we hope that they still manage to stay connected with us through other channels while waiting for better times to come,” Kessel admits.

As for the next team to feature on the ‘Pass the Pod’ series, Kessel has chosen none else than the reigning women’s champions, Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA, whose roster includes a couple of American players he is good friends with, namely Micha Hancock and Haleigh Washington. Stay tuned for the next chat with representatives of Europe’s Volleyball elite to follow soon!