Two years ago, at the FIVB Volleyball U18 Girls’ World Championship in Egypt, Italian opposite Giorgia Frosini could not play in the final because of an injury. Her team lost to USA in a five-set rollercoaster and even though she was named on the Dream Team as the Best Opposite of the tournament, it was a very sad moment for her. Now she is back leading her team through an impressive winning streak at the U20 World Championship and hopes to play in the final this time.
Women u20 2021
Giorgia Frosini in quest of fourth international medal
The rising Italian star excited about playing alongside her idol Egonu
Published 02:00, 16 Jul 2021
“Two years ago I broke my ankle and I did not play the final. This made me cry so much,” the 18-year-old hopeful told Volleyball World. “Our team’s goal is to arrive at the final and my individual goal is to help the team, especially in some special moments during the matches. I feel very happy, because we are doing very well, we are putting the other teams under pressure and I hope this continues through the rest of the championship.”
Giorgia Frosini celebrates at the U20 World Championship
Even before that silver in 2019, Frosini had earned a 2017 CEV U16 European Championship gold and a 2018 CEV U17 European Championship silver, so now she is aiming at her fourth podium at a major age-category tournament. In an unbeaten run in Kortrijk, Italy have already secured their spot among the semifinalists and Giorgia has been a key player and their top scorer along the way.
She comes from an athletic background. Her father Alessandro Frosini was an Italian basketball star, but she opted for a different kind of a ball sport.
“My father did not want me to play basketball. When I was a child, my parents came with me to the gym and I proved to them that I could play volleyball,” she said. “It makes me so much happier than basketball. What I love about volleyball is the harmony in the team, the hustle, the emotion…”
However, at the World Championship in Belgium and the Netherlands, Giorgia is wearing the number 12 on her shirt, the same number as her father did in his heyday. But she said she has taken way more than that from him. He taught her “tenacity, concentration, hustle and a never-give-up attitude.” In fact, her motto in life is just ‘Never give up!’
The world’s best opposites these days, Tijana Boskovic and Paola Egonu, are Giorgia’s sports idols. Amazingly, she will soon have the latter as a teammate. Again wearing the number 12 on her uniform, the 1.88m-tall striker will play for reigning world and continental club champions Imoco Volley Conegliano during the upcoming season. She signed her first professional contract at the highest possible level, after spending a couple of seasons in Italy’s second division with the team of Club Italia Crai, the national federation’s hatchery for young talents.
“When I was a child, my dream was to become a professional player at the highest level and this has been my motivation to work hard in practice every day. Now my dream is about to come true,” Giorgia Frosini said. “It’s a different world to the previous places where I played. I hope to help my team in every moment, during training or during the games, when the coach thinks that I can.”
This season Imoco will rely on two opposites – Giorgia Frosini and, of course, Paola Egonu.
“Yes, there is a little bit of pressure, but it will be an honour to play with Paola,” Frosini said. “I want to learn a lot of things about the game from her.”
Outside volleyball, Giorgia dreams of traveling around the world. Her hobby is to draw cartoons.
“It helps me relax and boosts my creativity,” she said.
Team Italy in harmony
