Gavin Schimtt decided to leave Iskra Odintsovo. Thus, the club just before the play-out was only with one spiker. – It was the choice of Gavin and I can’t comment it – said Tomaso Totolo, coach of Iskra.
On 16 April Gavin Schmitt decided to leave Iskra Odintsovo, thereby leaving the club in a very difficult situation just before the round of play-out. Let’s recall that in the 1/8 of Superleague Tomaso Totolo’s team twice lost with Gazprom Surgut and thaht’s why has to fight for places 9-16.
The reason for leaving the Canadian spiker weren’t personal reasons but the economic. The club for a long time is delaying with payments not only athletes but also coaches. – It was the choice of Gavin and I can’t comment his decision. I have to take care of the team but for all of us it’s a huge stress – said Tomaso Totolo.
As already mentioned, Schmitt left the band just before the first round of the play-out. – For all of us it was a real dramma! Especially from a psychological point of view, but in technical aspect it’s a great loss – commented Tomaso Totolo. We could see it in the attitude of the team because Iskra, with only one available spiker, an experienced Roman Yakovlev, was losing match after match. – At the end of the week we regained balance and lost in the tie-break with Dinamo Moscow and after that we beat a team from Grozny. Next week we will begin a second round, we will fight with Dynamo – everything will be open. For sure we’ll be also better prepared for these games, in both aspects: psychological and technical – finished Italian coach.
source: siatka.org