Thai Binh Women's Club is a team that has continuously fallen into the relegation group in the last two national volleyball championship seasons, 2023 and 2024.
This comes from the fact that most other teams have an even force, with national players and the Thai Binh squad does not have many outstanding faces, which is a mix of veterans and young players.
Coach Tran Van Giap shared: "Considering the correlation between the 8 women's teams, we know what the opportunities of Thai Binh women's volleyball are, so above all, the team focuses on each match and strives for the goal of staying in the league this season".
The goal is clear. To prepare for this, coach Tran Van Giap and his team have taken a warm-up step when participating in the Hoa Lu - Binh Dien Cup 2025 in Ninh Binh (March 4, 3-9.3). Because the team was not highly appreciated, the rice-country team ranked last among the 6 participating women's teams.
However, under the guidance of an enthusiastic coach like Mr. Tran Van Giap, Nguyen Thi Uyen and her teammates have shown positive signs when combining experience and youth. They left their mark in many times of the sets when they tried to chase the score, their spirit did not give up.
Talking to Lao Dong, the 1982-born coach said: "The Hoa Lu - Binh Dien Cup 2025 is an opportunity for our players, especially the young faces, to rub shoulders. On the field, they still lack many skills to compete in tense matches, against opponents with fast playing style.
There was a time when my players didn't keep up with the pace of the match. But with the current player resources and spirit, I am still satisfied that the students have tried their best in each phase of the ball. This is the basis for us to aim for phase 1 with the goal of staying in the league".
To strengthen the squad, the Thai Binh women's team has added foreign player Edina Begic. The main striker born in 1992 is 1m85 tall, has a jump of 3m16 and a block of 3m. This is considered one of the foreign players with the "huge" profile to compete in the first phase of the 2025 National Volleyball Championship.
This striker has won the European Cup twice with Vero Volley Milano (Italy), playing for many other strong teams such as Dinamo Moscow (Russia), Kuzeyboru (Türkiye) and Beijing (China). It was the main striker Tran Thi Thanh Thuy of Vietnam who was recruited by Kuzeyboru after parting ways with Edina Begic.
Recruiting Edina Begic shows Thai Binh's strong determination in this year's national championship season. Faced with fierce competition for a ticket to stay in the league, to get a positive result, the personnel and professional quality are what coach Tran Van Giap wants.
With the team having invested, Thai Binh players will certainly try their best in phase 1, taking place on March 22 in Hanoi to avoid losing ground before entering phase 2, which will take place from October.
