Poor Results, Yes – But the Explanations Are There
La Presse – The Tunisian under‑19 volleyball team that took part in the World Championship was harshly battered. It collected defeat after defeat. The U21 national side just finished last at the Chinese World Championship. Yet, once again, these “Worlds” gave officials at every level a clear view of the enormity of the task ahead.
Facing Egypt, Italy, Poland, Spain, Iran, and others, our U19 squad was not ridiculous. The scores tell the story. A loss, even by a single point, is still a loss, but the manner matters. Those European nations we know well have a completely different organisational structure than ours.
In fact, no one could fault their youth competitions – they are as well‑organised as senior events. Many of those players soon move up to the senior category, developing in an environment far richer in infrastructure, technical expertise, and organisational support.
Where Do We Stand?
We must admit, with bitterness, that almost all of our young athletes – across every collective or individual sport (and it’s even worse in the latter) – are settling for crumbs. Let alone the preparation programmes and training camps. Money is spent, yet we rely on a few gatherings and matches against teams that do not push the players to learn or endure a higher‑intensity load.
These World Championships have undoubtedly offered many lessons for everyone involved. The real question now is what will be done with those lessons once we return to the modesty of our youth competitions.
That is where the difference lies.
We Need to Go All‑In
The resources required are nothing like those deployed by our opponents. We know that, for the country, it’s a matter of priorities. But finding sponsors is not forbidden – it is possible. Egypt, a regular adversary on our path, has understood this. They have invested heavily in infrastructure and allocated the necessary funds so their players can progress faster.
They have overtaken us in handball and basketball, and now they are staking their claim in volleyball. It is not our habit to look for mitigating circumstances, but this is an opportunity to remind sport administrators that it is no longer acceptable to neglect these age categories.
Preparing for a World Championship, regardless of the quality of the national league, requires about ten high‑level international tournaments and, subsequently, around twenty matches where intensity and competitiveness are truly present. Therefore, the future depends on the importance we assign to our youth competitions.
Continuing to maintain these categories merely to satisfy administrative obligations – the rules that keep them alive – will turn our young teams into background players, forced to fill a calendar without real purpose. That is simply a choice we must make.
