International Prospects

[Nomos]

Volleyball community,

It's exciting for us to join VolleyTalk!

We are:

Kristin Folkl-Kaburakis (Stanford VB & WBB '98 and USA VB WNT)
Tassos Kaburakis (SLU Prof., Indiana U. PhD '05, Attorney-licensed in Greece)

Home base is Kristin's hometown of St. Louis. After retirement from professional sports, Kristin spent a decade in development for the St. Louis Sports Commission. She is leading the volleyball side of Nomos LLC, a consulting firm dating back to 2010, when Tassos started it after calls from people at various levels (i.e. NCAA, pro) requesting assistance on topics such as international sport research and NCAA legal and policy compliance.

We were encouraged to start this thread, as with increasing frequency we're being asked to help in various areas of international sport including:

** ADs, Compliance Officers, and VB coaches seeking advice with difficult international student-athletes cases.
** Coaches with questions regarding recruiting visits, attending overseas tournaments, and the logistics of hosting/participating in overseas clinics/camps.
** International federations/VB governing bodies/clubs eager to learn how US athletics are governed and how it relates to their athletes' transitions.
** International schools abroad wishing to develop more ties to US educational institutions (ex. staff and community exchanges; coordinating discussions for counselors, parents, and student-athletes).
** Advising and mentoring international prospects, their parents, their coaches, schools' administrators, and others on all aspects of the transition to the US world of sport and education.


We will be posting international volleyball prospects' information and links as we receive them, hoping that the VolleyTalk community will also enjoy observing and partaking in the volleyball development process of this young talent.


Kristin Folkl-Kaburakis                               Tassos Kaburakis
[e-mail]                         [e-mail]

[Nomos]

Georgia Tselepi – Class of 2018
6’ tall, OPP/OH (six-rotation) - Greek Jr. National Team Starter


Full game videos are available.

Georgia currently starts at OPP for the Greek Jr. National Team and will be competing in the CEV U18 European Championships in Arnhem, Holland April 1-9.

She also starts at OH for her club, Iraklis Kifissias, in Athens, Greece which is in the A2 (or the second league) in Greece.
She has expressed an interest in psychology, is taking the SATs in May, and is a committed student-athlete.

Her dad’s email is:
Savvas Tselepis 
[e-mail]

Let us know if you need an email introduction.

[Nomos]

Elena Giourdas – Class of 2018
6’ tall, OH (six-rotation) - Greek Jr. National Team top-20 selection


Full game videos available soon.

Elena currently plays OH for Olympiakos Piraeus in Athens, Greece. This is the top volleyball club in the country. Her dad, Marios Giourdas, is a very well-known and respected former starting OH of the Men’s National Team of Greece. He also played professionally in both Greece and Italy. He currently serves the Greek, European, and International Volleyball Federations as operations manager and competition director.

Elena is interested in psychology, is taking the SATs in May, and is very excited about coming to the US to study and play.

Mario’s email is: [e-mail]
Please advise should you need a direct introduction.

[Nomos]

Kostas Kapetanidis – Class of 2017 (willing to delay and play stateside in 2018)
OH (six-rotation) – Greek U18 & U20 Jr. National Teams Starter
6’ 5.5” tall
Spike reach 11’8”


Full game videos are currently being uploaded.

Kostas is a straight ‘A’, graduating senior, currently preparing for the highly competitive entrance examination into the Greek Polytechnic School at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. While he would ideally prefer to start college this Fall (2017), if a top U.S. program with the optimum combination of engineering, volleyball and financial aid is not available until the start of the 2018 academic year, he is willing to forego both pro volleyball and his university studies for the '17-18 academic year.

Dad’s email is:
Makis Kapetanidis
[e-mail]

Glad to introduce to the family if interested.

[bigfan]

Welcome to Volleytalk.

[Nomos]

Hi Everyone, Kristin here. We've received several questions regarding international standardized testing dates and deadlines, and so wanted to post some information here:

**SAT / ACT
- SAT testing is coming May 6 with an April 7 registration deadline

- ACT testing date is June 10 with a May 5 registration deadline

- Registration deadlines for both tests are always roughly one month from the testing date.

- These dates are NOT country specific. For example, a prospective student athlete in Spain will have access to the SAT May testing date just as a prospective student athlete in France.

- For more information, please visit:
collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/register/international
www.act.org/content/act/en/products-and-services/the-act/registration.html

**TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) OR IELTS (International English Language Testing System)
- These tests are each offered almost 50 times a year at test centers around the world.

- Depending on the student-athlete's ACT/SAT English (Evidence-Based Reading & Writing) and whether they are International Baccalaureate (IB) graduates, some institutions may not require a TOEFL or IELTS. HOWEVER, most universities require some form of English proficiency other than solely the SAT or ACT.

-For more information, please visit:
www.ets.org/toefl
www.ielts.org/en-US/what-is-ielts/ielts-for-study

[bigfan]

Mar 23, 2017 13:13:44 GMT -5 Nomos said:

Georgia Tselepi – Class of 2018
6’ tall, OPP/OH (six-rotation) - Greek Jr. National Team Starter


Full game videos are available.

Georgia currently starts at OPP for the Greek Jr. National Team and will be competing in the CEV U18 European Championships in Arnhem, Holland April 1-9.

She also starts at OH for her club, Iraklis Kifissias, in Athens, Greece which is in the A2 (or the second league) in Greece.
She has expressed an interest in psychology, is taking the SATs in May, and is a committed student-athlete.

Her dad’s email is:
Savvas Tselepis 
[e-mail]

Let us know if you need an email introduction.

Contact Arizona State University.

[Nomos]

We are told that there are still 2017 OH needs out there. Chrysanthi Stamatiou is currently being considered by a few high-level and mid-major programs and is a straight As student. 
NCAA ID#: 1702733255

Chrysanthi Stamatiou -- Class of 2017
6-0, OH/Opp, six-rotation
U17 & U19 National Team member

Starting for Aris Thessaloniki juniors, currently competing in the Greek Final Four for the U19 national title; also participated on the top league Aris women's team this year.
Started for Hellenic College HS (Olga Strantzali's school) as OH, capturing second place at the national HS championship in a hard-fought tie-breaker battle.

A couple of games' clips:

and


Full games available.

Extremely intelligent and a team player, a genuinely good kid. Interested in international studies, political science, communication, and marketing.

Cell Phone/Viber: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

Let us know if you would like a direct introduction.

[Nomos]

Alexandros Boutos -- Class of 2017 (DoB: 9/9/98)
6-8, 11-7 spike, OH -- Greek Jr. and Sr. National Team



Registered for ACT June 10 (solid student with a high GPA from HS) and otherwise considering a FinAid offer that would make sense for a family of modest means.
Imperative for him is Agriculture/Animal Production studies and possibly vet trajectory.

Email: [e-mail]
Let us know if you would like a direct intro to him and his dad.

[Nomos]

2019 OH/LIB 5'11" Ioanna Charitonidi
(Six-Rotation OH in A2 league, starting libero for the CEV U18 European Championships squad for Greece)



Yep, you read the above correctly, Ioanna's natural position is OH, a technically and athletically gifted 2019 prospect, however the coaching staff of the Greek VB federation deemed it necessary to give her more time with the older girls starting on the CEV European Championships, and because of her defensive ability, serve receive, passing skills, etc had her start as a libero in the recent competitions in April in Holland, and she accumulated 98 receptions, a top-20 defensive player in Europe based on this competition's stats, indeed with ample digs against the older and seasoned, athletic and skilled hitters across Europe. Folks in the know say she'll be among the premier 2019s coming out of the Balkans and Europe overall. The film with her hitting is her playing against women, A2 competition is the second pro league in Greece, thus she's definitely gaining considerable experience...

Her mom is one of the most competitive and plugged-in coaches in Greece, she is committed to preparing Ioanna to leave for the US right after graduating from the UK-based educational setting she is attending, an English high school in Athens, Greece, where her mom is the AD as well.

Glad to provide an intro if interested. Info below:

Enjoy a productive and prosperous summer and recruiting season!

[Nomos]

There was some high-level volleyball during this past weekend and the U17 national championship Final-Four in Athens, Greece.

Iraklis Kifisias captured the title undefeated, this is Georgia Tselepis and Iro Hounta's team. They competed hard, beating the best teams in Greece, and in the most crucial game on Friday v. Aris Thessaloniki (yellow club), there was ample Power-5 starting Top-50 talent on the court, in a hard-fought 2.5 hours tie-break battle, which Iro (#8 dark blue) wrapped up with her terminal kill. There's appx. 9' available for now (we'll post the full game soon):



Iro Hounta was the MVP, she's Class of 2018, former track-star, playing VB the last couple of years, the epitome of raw and very high-ceiling talent. Most interestingly, Iro was truly rising above competitively, and improving each game, playing better against the best talent. Fun tidbit, she had the last kill in each of their last 3 games to capture the title:)
Here's her highlight from earlier in the year:

[Nomos]

As promised, here is the epic battle from the U17 Greek championship:



We also have the other two games if interested, please advise via email and we'll send them along. Enjoy July!

[Nomos]

Responding to a few requests for more footage from Ioanna Charitonidi, Class of 2019, Six-Rotation OH in A2 League in Greece and Lib @ CEV 2018 for Greece, here are two matches from her season with insightful notes (above the comments' section on the youtube page for each match) from trusted coaches in Athens: 





We include the original post for Ioanna below:

Jun 20, 2017 0:50:51 GMT -5 Nomos said:

2019 OH/LIB 5'11" Ioanna Charitonidi
(Six-Rotation OH in A2 league, starting libero for the CEV U18 European Championships squad for Greece)



Yep, you read the above correctly, Ioanna's natural position is OH, a technically and athletically gifted 2019 prospect, however the coaching staff of the Greek VB federation deemed it necessary to give her more time with the older girls starting on the CEV European Championships, and because of her defensive ability, serve receive, passing skills, etc had her start as a libero in the recent competitions in April in Holland, and she accumulated 98 receptions, a top-20 defensive player in Europe based on this competition's stats, indeed with ample digs against the older and seasoned, athletic and skilled hitters across Europe. Folks in the know say she'll be among the premier 2019s coming out of the Balkans and Europe overall. The film with her hitting is her playing against women, A2 competition is the second pro league in Greece, thus she's definitely gaining considerable experience...

Her mom is one of the most competitive and plugged-in coaches in Greece, she is committed to preparing Ioanna to leave for the US right after graduating from the UK-based educational setting she is attending, an English high school in Athens, Greece, where her mom is the AD as well.

Glad to provide an intro if interested. Info below:

Enjoy a productive and prosperous summer and recruiting season!

[bigfan]

Mar 23, 2017 13:17:02 GMT -5 Nomos said:

Elena Giourdas – Class of 2018
6’ tall, OH (six-rotation) - Greek Jr. National Team top-20 selection


Full game videos available soon.

Elena currently plays OH for Olympiakos Piraeus in Athens, Greece. This is the top volleyball club in the country. Her dad, Marios Giourdas, is a very well-known and respected former starting OH of the Men’s National Team of Greece. He also played professionally in both Greece and Italy. He currently serves the Greek, European, and International Volleyball Federations as operations manager and competition director.

Elena is interested in psychology, is taking the SATs in May, and is very excited about coming to the US to study and play.

Mario’s email is: [e-mail]
Please advise should you need a direct introduction.

Please contact Arizona State University (ASU), the University of San Francisco (USF) and Loyola Marymount Unversity (LMU) both in California. They all need good players.

[Nomos]

2019 6-21/2 OH -- Ioanna Georgatzi



Above is video on Ioanna Georgatzi, a 2019 6-21/2 OH from Greece who wants to play in the United States. This video is from her sophomore season. New video from her junior year will be available in the coming months. Ioanna’s Mom is Ukrainian whose family is in the 6-6, 6-7ish range. Ioanna is a good 6-21/2, but might be 6-3 already, open growth plate and Docs/trainers in Athens feel she could surpass 6-3.
She is interested in humanities studies, political science, quite flexible and preparing for the standardized tests in 2018.

You can contact Ioanna Georgatzi at:
[e-mail]

If you need a direct introduction to her and her family please let us know.
Sincere wishes to everyone for a healthy, productive, prosperous, and safe season.