The team under the name of NEKA II, comprising mainly U15 girls playing in the youth league, thus above their age group, faces a big challenge this year.

According to head coach Beáta Bohus this concept will have implications primarily on a long term, and it will lay the foundations for the girls’ future.

 

„This is indeed a big task for us now, since most of the girls were born in 2004 and 2005 play in the first division of the youth league where even some players of the year 2000 can participate” – as Beáta Bohus explained the championship system with the current age groups.“This is going to be a challenge for us, but on the one hand we wanted to see where we stood, while on the other hand it is important for us for the development of our children to play against physically stronger opponents that are tactically also more mature. Looking back at last year's U15 championship, we did not feel like the girls were getting the right workload, but this year I do not think we should be afraid of that.

It remains a question how the young players or their parents will handle the situation if the results are not coming due to the focus given to individual development.

„This is one of the hot topics, but I try to emphasize every single time that we think long-term. The players need to mature to each other, since they play on different levels when they enter the academy. It is less important to reach superb results when they are fourteen to sixteen years of age compared to how many first-division players we can produce later, furthermore, what foundations they receive before they leave NEKA.”

Although the team last year did not make the playoffs, NEKA still caused upsets against some of their big rivals.

„We can build on that. This year, prior to playing a very strong Dunaújváros side I told the girls to remember that when we won against Győr or Szombathely, how did the team function, how did they managed to take on the teams older than them. From these words they got electrified and fought very well, earning a point in that big game.”

The team has also welcomed new players who were instantly accommodated and assisted by the others, which helped the head coach, too.

“Key is the team spirit. I am very glad that I can work with clever and talented players, who not only perform well on court, but also at school. The elder ones support the newer ones in everything; thus, it was easy for them to get accustomed to life at NEKA and the rhythm here. In the dormitory they did draw the tactical variations for each other, so one child taught the other. In my opinion this is a superb thing considering the future.”