VOLLEYBALL – The club has one of the best youth training programs in the Netherlands and annually deals in championships. But Eredivisie volleyball has not been seen at Sudosa-Desto since the early years of this century. That will change next season, when the Asser ladies return to the highest level after more than 25 years.
Volleyball association NeVoBo has approved Sudosa-Desto’s license application, so that top-level volleyball can be seen again in the Olympus hall. And that is historically a level at which Sudosa-Desto belongs.
“This morning we received an email from the volleyball association that our license application has been accepted. We were confident that everything would be fine, but I still jumped at the chance,” laughs proud chairman Alfred Barkhuis of the volleyball club. “A project group within the club has been working on this for a year and a half. It is a great result that they have succeeded in meeting all the conditions.”
“If you make the step to the Eredivisie, you suddenly have to deal with a different financial picture. In addition, as a club you have to meet certain hall requirements, your organization has to be ready and you have to work on youth and talent development.” continues the chairman. “We were already doing well on a number of fronts, such as with youth volleyball and the development of volleyball in the region. For example, the intensive search for sponsors was important to us, and a number of companies have stepped in.”
Volleyball club SuDoSa was founded in the mid-fifties. In the fifties and sixties they regularly played at the highest level. But the sporting highlight of the club lies in the eighties and nineties, when both the men’s and women’s league play for several years. With the disappearance of the men from the Eredivisie at the beginning of the 21st century, the name Sudosa disappears from the top of volleyball.
In recent years, we have worked hard to get the teams back to a high level. Both the women and men are playing in the top division this season, the second highest level in the Netherlands. However, promotion is impossible, as a club you have to meet the strict licensing requirements of the volleyball association.
Barkhuis understands the setup of the NeVoBo. “The volleyball association wants to professionalize volleyball. The bar is set high, the Eredivisie is only reserved for ambitious clubs. If you become champion in the Eredivisie, you are champion of the professionals. If you become champion in the top division, you are champion in the amateurs. You can’t get a doctorate, only as a lateral entrant.”