“I’m happy that I can be at this historic moment, that I will be written under this cup. It was a big responsibility, even when I came. The first year the attack on the title was announced. Last year we didn’t give it, by two points, ace for the belt. That was probably the worst moment in volleyball for me, I didn’t take it well. Today erases everything,” the thirty-two-year-old volleyball player gushed in an interview with ČTK and Radiožurnál.
He returned to the extra league before the 2020/2021 season after two years in Friedrichshafen, Germany. The Lions Project appealed to him. “I wanted to go somewhere where they would play at the top. That was my condition. If I wanted to return to the Czech Republic, then play for the title. Of course, it was a bit risky, because in history Prague was not one of those teams like Liberec, Budějovice, Kladno, Vary. It’s terribly difficult for a team that didn’t have those ambitions to get there,” recalled the Czech representative.
In 2015 and 2016, he won the domestic trophy in the colors of Dukla Liberec, but he enjoyed the current triumph even more. “The league is more balanced, it is played from the first round of the playoffs. If I go over it, when I played in Liberec, in the first round we won three games to zero. Today it is completely different, we have to fight from the beginning. So it is more competitive, we are more wringing,” he described.
Photo: Michaela Říhová, CTK
Lvi Prague celebrates the first championship title in history
He no longer takes the title for granted. “It’s getting harder and harder, there are so many favorites. It’s so valuable that we have to fight from the first game. It’s my first title as captain, it means a lot to me. I’m proud of our team that we did it, ” he stated.
He praised the work of Argentine coach Juan Manuel Barrial, who was hired by the Lions before the season.
“He changed a lot of things. It’s a different view of volleyball. I’m glad that young people can see the work that is being done abroad. Volleyball is developing terribly. What worked ten years ago doesn’t work anymore. He studies it despite his age , he lives by volleyball, including as an assistant. Hats off to how they prepared us for every opponent. It’s a huge reward for him as well,” added Janouch.
