When Isabelle Haak joined the national team gathering last Monday, parts of the squad had already been assembled for twelve days.
After winning the Champions League for the second year in a row with the Italian club Conegliano, she instead got well-deserved time for rest.
Now I got two weeks without a ball and you could get out of the bubble a little. Now I feel that I'm more recovered than last year and I actually looking forward to starting with the national team, she says.
Extremely tight schedule
A few days into last year's national team gathering in May, Haak realized she had suffered from exhaustion symptoms. The villain was an extremely tight schedule.
I wasn't really there mentally, my head was somewhere else. I couldn't really focus, my body didn't respond to the gym either. I couldn't really cope.
Have you been able to make any adjustments to your setup since it happened?
Last year, I was introduced to a psychologist. It's felt really good to have someone to talk to – get tips and tools on how to think, she says.
Haak has met the psychologist during the past year and will continue to do so in the future.
We'll continue until I feel that it's not needed anymore. It's also good for preventive purposes. Even if you think you don't need it, I think it can be important to have someone to talk to. You can get new perspectives on things and tips that you didn't think you needed.
To protect the players' health, the European Volleyball Federation has announced to SVT that, for example, the intense national team schedule during May-September will be revised and reduced.
Somewhere you have to have a little break, but now I didn't even get home over Christmas. It shouldn't be that you play non-stop for twelve months a year.
Became a pro at 17
If nothing is done, the risk is that player careers will end far too early.
It could make it so that you can't continue as long as you could have otherwise. It's about recovering when you can.
Isabelle Haak has been a professional abroad since she was 17, but she herself doesn't know how long her career will last.
Until the body can't take it anymore? I have a role that involves a lot of jumping and it's very demanding. It doesn't feel like you can get very old in this sport, says the 25-year-old and laughs.
.
.
Daniel Kihlström/TT
Facts: Isabelle Haak
(TT)
Born: July 11, 1999.
Height: 195 centimeters.
Position: Right-wing spiker.
Clubs: Engelholm 2012–2015, Béziers (France) 2016–2017, Scandicci (Italy) 2017–2019, Vakifbank (Turkey) 2019–2022, Conegliano (Italy) 2022–.
Main merits: Three Champions League titles (2022, 2024, 2024), three club world championship titles (2021, 2022, 2024), three Italian league titles (2023, 2024, 2025), two Turkish league titles (2021, 2022), two SM gold medals (2015, 2016), named the tournament's most valuable player three times in the club world championship and twice in the Champions League, named Europe's best player 2021–2022.
Traditionally, volleyball plays its championships and national team tournaments during May-September, which is after the club seasons.
The European Volleyball Federation has announced to SVT that the national teams' schedules will be revised.
The European Championship qualifying round will be scrapped – instead, the national team tournaments Silver League and Golden League will function as European Championship qualifying rounds.
A player representative will also be elected to the CEV board, and the federation will work to reduce the number of matches in the league organizations.
Previously, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has also abolished the Challenger Cup. That tournament was a qualifying round for the national team tournament Nations League, which gathered the 16 best national teams in the world. Now, teams qualify through the world ranking instead.
Sweden played the Challenger Cup last year, but due to the schedule, Isabelle Haak opted out of the trip to Manila, Philippines.
Source: SVT
National team matches (in Koszalin, Poland):
May 23: France.
May 24: Poland.
May 25: Bulgaria.
Golden League, group stage:
May 29: Portugal (in Örebro).
May 31: Romania (Örebro).
June 7: Croatia (Alicante, Spain).
June 8: Spain (Alicante, Spain).
June 13: Ukraine (Radom, Poland).
June 14: Slovakia (Radom, Poland).
Golden League, Final Four:
June 28: Semifinals (Ängelholm).
June 29: Medal matches (Ängelholm).
World Championship, August 22-September 7 (Bangkok, Thailand):
August 22: Netherlands.
August 24: Thailand.
August 26: Egypt.
Note: As the host, Sweden is directly qualified for the Final Four in the Golden League and will participate in the group winners in the four World Championship groups will advance to the quarterfinals.
