Within the last few years, we’ve seen the rise of young volleyball players under the age of 21 capable of leading their respective teams to play against the world’s best. As of late, China has a left handed 19 year old spiker named Li Yingying and Italian scoring machine Paola Egonu who is only 20 years old.
We’d also like to mention Mexico’s Melanie Guadalupe Parra Quintero who just turned 16 when she competed at the World Championship last year.
We have another 16 year old player to keep an eye on and she is from Russia.
Meet Tatiana Kadochkina.
The opposite spiker who stands at 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) is one of the youngest players set to compete at the 2019 Volleyball Nations League which kicks off on May 21st. With the absence of Russia’s star player Nataliya Goncharova, we may see Kadochkina in action.
Excited? We are!!!
QUICK FACTS ABOUT KADOCHKINA FROM WIKIPEDIA:
Her father Alexey Kadochkin is a former volleyball player.
In 2016/17 season, Kadochkina moved to Kazan to attend the Yekaterina Gamova School which was established there in July 2016.
At 15, she was transferred to the main team of the Dinamo Kazan.
2017 Girls’ U16 Volleyball European Championship “Most Valuable Player”
2017 Girls’ U18 Volleyball European Championship – Med 1.png Gold Medal
Click here to view Russia’s Preliminary Roster for the 2019 Volleyball Nations League.