Lausanne, Switzerland, August 29, 2018 – They have already left their mark this volleyball season, but they are hungry for more. The inaugural men’s Volleyball Nations League dream-teamers are eager to shine again at the upcoming FIVB World Championship in Italy and Bulgaria.
It is not surprising that all seven honourees on the VNL Dream Team, as well as Most Valuable Player Maxim Mikhaylov, have been included in their national teams’ extended rosters before the World Champs. And it is very likely that they will be showing off their skills in front of a global audience in September again. Of course, after they were done with the VNL and before resuming training ahead of the World Championship, they all took some time to rest.
VNL Dream Team’s setter Benjamin Toniutti even got married and found time for a short, but beautiful honeymoon in the Seychelles.
His teammate on both the French national squad and the VNL Dream Team, libero Jenia Grebennikov, went on a romantic holiday in the Maldives, but had an unexpected encounter with a shark!
The other Frenchman on the VNL best seven, middle blocker Kevin Le Roux, posted a photo of himself at a weekend barbecue with friends, just before rejoining the national team to start training for the World Championship.
USA’s national team enjoyed some island life together, but they combined their trip to Hawaii with a training camp and scrimmage games. The VNL Dream Team’s opposite Matthew Anderson was “excited for a week of training and fun” in the Pacific.
It has been a fantastic summer for Taylor Sander. He became a dad before rejoining the American team for the VNL Finals, where he was voted one of the outside hitters on the Dream Team. At the camp in Hawaii, Sander enjoyed the company not only of his teammates, but also of his wife and his new-born son Atli.
The VNL gold medallists from Russia also indulged in some well-deserved time off before getting back to their challenging training routine on the way to the World Championship. The other middle blocker on the VNL Dream Team, Dmitriy Muserskiy, visited the Vienna Museum of Illusions and obviously enjoyed the time with his family.
Muserskiy and his fellow dream-teamer, outside hitter Dmitry Volkov, however, are not afraid of the heavy workouts ahead and demonstrate their method for instant recovery after practice.
Volleyball Nations League MVP Maxim Mikhaylov also appreciated the opportunity to spend some time with his family. Now that training with the Russian national team has resumed, Mikhaylov is looking forward to more opportunities to travel the world and pick up titles with his team.
The FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Championship Italy-Bulgaria 2018 will take place from September 9 through 30 with the participation of Russia, France, USA and 21 other national teams from all five continental confederations.