Lausanne, Switzerland, July 4, 2019 – Germany’s 2019 FIVB Men’s Volleyball Nations League may have finished with defeat to Japan on Sunday, but Christian Fromm, one of the team’s leading players remains confident that the team has a bright future.
Andrea Giani’s side finished with three wins and 11 defeats to finish in 14th place. It is a downturn in form compared to 2018 when they finished ninth with seven victories and eight losses.
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The 28-year-old Fromm helped Germany begin the tournament in fine style with a 3-0 defeat of China in Jiangmen. However, only a 3-2 win over Serbia in Canadian capital Ottawa followed in the next three weeks until a 3-1 victory of Portugal in front of Germany’s fans in Leipzig ended their wait
“We were really very close to winning more in the last few weeks, but we lost tough matches against top teams like Olympic champion Brazil,” Fromm said. “In our home pool in Leipzig we finally rewarded ourselves with a victory. That's very important for this young team. But we need to take a lot more steps over the next weeks.
“Our matches are too often like a roller coaster ride. We have really good parts in our block defence, service and so on, but then we make a lot of mistakes. But we have a lot of young players and they need this experience in the Volleyball Nations League to play more consistently in the future. Our team is getting better and better.”
Germany still have a busy summer and wing spiker Fromm is likely to bring his experience of winning bronze at the Poland 2014 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship and silver at the 2017 CEV European Championship.
First in August the Berlin-born Fromm and his Germany teammates will travel to China for the Olympic qualification tournament where they will face the host nation, Turkey and the Czech Republic.
Then in September they will aim for the medals at the France, Slovenia, Belgium, Netherlands 2019 CEV European Championship. Germany begin in Pool B which takes place in Antwerp and Brussels and where they will play against Belgium, Austria, Germany, Serbia, Slovakia and Spain.
“I’m sure, that we can win against each team on this planet,” Fromm said. “The secret is not to think too much about our opponents, but to concentrate on our own strength. We need more determination in the decisive moments of the match and to stay aggressive and courageous.
“After a holiday we will start our preparation for the European Championships. That’s our highlight in this season and we want to a win a medal like 2017.
“Our experienced top setter Simon Kampa already came back for the last weekend of the Volleyball Nations League in Leipzig. Then we hope to see Georg Grozer back in our German team and Denys Kaliberda is also a very important player who could make our team stronger. We have another big goal, to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.”