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ISTANBUL, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Turkish Vakifbank youth volleyball team members said they hope to follow suit their senior teammates to achieve their dreams.
"In the future, I want to be a world famous, beloved volleyball player," said Ebrar Karakurt, a 16-year-old and 1.90-meter spiker of the youth team.
Karakurt started to play volleyball at the age of 10 in Turkey's small western city of Balikesir and joined the team two years ago.
Her icon player is the 31-year-old Gozde Kirdar, who rose to her stardom from Vakifbank youth team and won the gold medal and the Best Outside Hitter award at the 2013 Club World Championship.
The 15-year-old Defne Arlier who has been playing volleyball for six years, also adores Gozde but hopes to be a better player than her idol in the future.
"My volleyball coach in my school has sent me to Vakifbank," she said. "And I love being here."
After finishing their classes in school, players of the youth team get to their trainings despite of Istanbul's heavy traffic jam.
Both Arlier and Karakurt said that they have developed their skills thanks to the hard training program.
The youth team has introduced a heavy program consisted of several parts like fitness and ball training, said Erhan Doganoz, the coach of the youth team.
"We have six days of training which last 2 to 3 hours," Doganoz told Xinhua.
However, the search for talents who can match the standard of Vakifbank team, is not something easy, according to him.
Doganoz said that the club has been applying a detailed procedure to scout young players. "We scrutinize the schools, conducting detailed researches, both in Istanbul and across the country."
The trainers have also been evaluating the suggestions of the fans who recommend the hopefuls to the club.
"After applying several trainings to our newly-found candidates, we check whether they match our standards," Doganoz said.
The trainers have also assessed the characteristics of the players through their specific program.
"We have a system in which we can work on the differences of our players in terms of their ages, strength and physical characteristics," he pointed out.
According to the system, a 15-year-old player can take the same training with the 17-year-old or 14-year-old can do the same as well as 12.
"After they develop their skills in these trainings, they can join the trainings of their age group," Doganoz added.
In Doganoz's view, the system gives the players the chance to make mistakes. "So that they can see their own mistakes and learn how to fix them," he added.
There are many players in Vakifbank's women team who whetted their skills from the junior team, like Kirdar, Melis Gurkaynak and Cagla Akin who are world-embraced players. "They can help the young players to learn how to be good player," said Doganoz.
"Besides being a good player, our team members also teach how to develop their social skills and establish good friendly relations with their social environment," Doganoz added.
Vakifbank team has won the FIVB Club World Championship once, the Women's CEV Champions League twice and the Turkish League nine times in history, as one of the world-famous women's volleyball clubs.
Rio Olympic MVP Zhu Ting of China joined Vakifbank team last September, leading the team to score 11 wins in a row and secure the top spot of the Turkish League.
