Former national team player Gabriella Vatai to lead Hungarian Volleyball family

Gabriella Vatai, a former national team player with 51 caps to her name, is the new president of the Hungarian Volleyball Association (MRSZ). She will be working alongside Hungary’s Volleyball legend Gyöngyi Bardi, who finished twice fourth at the Olympics (in 1976 and 1980) and has worn the national team jersey as many as 329 times. Bardi was unanimously elected MRSZ Honorary President. 

Vatai, who replaces Dr Gyula Bögöly at the helm of Hungary’s Volleyball family, highlighted in her speech that the primary mission and goal of the MRSZ Board of Administration is to help the Hungarian coaching community on all fronts to achieve quality improvement. She expressed her pride at acknowledging that teams from Hungary have been able to achieve good results on the international stage, with three top-eight finishes. “This means the future is bright and this must be further strengthened,” she stressed. Moreover, Ms Vatai said that the leadership of the Hungarian Volleyball Association would like to put even more emphasis on cherishing the memory of the national legends, in addition to calling for the introduction of a Hungarian Volleyball Day and for the further expansion of amateur Volleyball. 

Vatai, who has a degree in sports economics, claimed national league and national cup titles as a competitive player, and she played for the senior national team more than 50 times throughout her career. “I have always been a team player, I played as a libero, and that is exactly the point, that is the most important thing: you always help your teammates with all your strength, and that was and will be the case during my tenure at the helm of the Hungarian Volleyball Association,” she said while addressing the delegates attending the MRSZ General Assembly. She will fight honestly and with a big heart so that Hungarian Volleyball is finally regarded as it deserves and is taken where it belongs. Finally, she mentioned her pleasure at working with a real legend of the sport, Gyöngyi Bardi. 

Bardi, with a record of 329 caps for the national team, is the new Honorary President of the Hungarian Volleyball Association. She said that the invitation and the nomination are both an honour. She pointed out that Gabriella Vatai and her team put together a programme that features exactly what the sport needs at this stage and that she will support its implementation as much as possible.