Hooker & Havelkova To Russia

It’s going to be a cold new world for Miss Hooker & Havelkova!

After winning the Brazilian League last season with Sollys Osasco, the American opposite will head to Russia to play for Dinamo Krasnodar. After Osasco replaced her with Sheilla, we were hoping she’d find a team in Brazil. It seemed like she had a great time there.

Anyways…

She’s not the only star on the team, Destinee will be joined by Czech Republic’s Helena Havelkova who won 3 Italian club titles this past season with Yamamay. The team will be coached by former coach of The Netherlands’ women’s team, Avital Selinger. It looks like Krasnodar will be a team to watch out for this coming season.

Since Krasnodar finished 5th last season in the Russian League, they have qualified for the CEV Challenge Cup. We’re not quite familiar with this tourney but for sure it’s among the top tourneys in Europe but not as prestigious as the CEV Champions League.

Kranodar’s general manager, Andrey Makarov, has released this statement:

“Destinee Hooker is a known personality in the world of volleyball. She’s a very strong player with great physical abilities and offensive power. We tried to hire her for a long time and we are very pleased that we were able to reach agreement over his transfer to Dinamo Krasnodar. I believe that the arrival of players like Hooker only further strengthens our league and makes it more interesting for the fans.”

Don’t get us wrong, the Russian Super League is a very strong league and definitely among the top leagues in Europe. The only problem though  is that media coverage for volleyball in Russia is rare. We can hardly find links to watch their matches unless it’s during the Final Round. We bet some of you didn’t even know that Foluke Akinradewo and Tatiana Kosheleva played for Krasnodar last season.

We really hope we can find links to watch the matches or Hooker better start a campaign and tell ESPN or Fromsport.com to do something! Hah! We kid! We kid!

On a serious note, we hope things will work out well for her in Russia.

We heard it’s cold out there as in super cold…

Speaking of Havelkova aka Facundo Conte’s girlfriend, it was very sweet of her to release an official statement about her transfer.

Sono 5 anni da quando ho firmato il mio primo contratto in Italia con Sassuollo. 5 anni in Italia dove sono arrivata da ragazzina che non sapeva ancora niente del mondo di volley e sono 5 anni che ho lavorato duro per arrivare dove sono adesso. grazie ai miei allenatori grazie alle due società che mi hanno voluto grazie ai miei tifosi che mi hanno sempre seguito e hanno sofferto durante le partite con me grazie ai giornalisti che mi hanno reso più famosa grazie a tutti voi che amate la pallavolo insieme con me e sopratutto grazie a tutte le mie compagne che mi hanno sempre sopportato e hanno lottato con me. Ho lavorato duro per vincere qualcosa importante per realizzare i miei sogni per vincere una coppa o uno scudetto e grazie a Busto Arsizio ho potuto alzare 3 coppe questo anno essendo orgogliosissima della mia squadra e felice di fare la capitana ad una squadra perfetta.

♥ HH

Helena is pretty much saying that she treasure and enjoy the 5 years she spent in Italy with Yamamay. She will miss everyone and she will forever remain thankful for the  fans who have always been there to support Yamamay. As for her transfer, she wants to know what it’s like to play outside Italy and hopefully become a better and stronger player.

You go girl!

HH forgot to mention that her hot boyfriend Facundo Conte is also playing on Krasnodar’s men’s team. The closer, the better for the lovebirds.

Anyways, we wish Helena, Hooker and Team Krasnodar the best this coming season!

THOUGHTS?

THOUGHTS?

THOUGHTS?

(Hooker images: FIVB/ Havelkova images: legavolleyfemminile.it)