Walferdinger decides for a different life at the age of 27

« I have a laughing and a crying eye, » says Caroline Martin. The volleyball player is back in the championship finals, she is very happy. She has gained great experience with finals and many titles. But this time the final sprint for the Libera of permanent master RSR Walferdingen feels different. She is also a bit sad. Because this final series against VC Mamer, which begins on Saturday (5:30 p.m.), will be her last.

Walferdingen has won all championship titles since 2017, seven in a row, no Luxembourg volleyball team has yet managed. A quartet of top performers has made most triumphs possible: Captain Nathalie Braas, Betty Hoffmann, Maryse Welsch – and Caroline Martin. Soon none of the long -standing guarantees of success will be in a team. Welsch had said goodbye in 2023, Hoffmann a year later. Martin and Braas step down together after this final.

However, the two of them did not affect each other. « I decided independently of Nathalie’s decision. I noticed during the season that I want to give other things more priority in my life, » said Martin. The 27-year-old, who grew up in Walferdingen, played from an early age at the local volleyball club.

She has been in the first women’s team since 2014. She got a total of eleven titles with her in the league and the trophy. If the season had not been canceled in the first year of Corona, more would probably have been added. In her first title winners, Martin was still mostly on the bench. Later she shared the Libera position with her girlfriend Welsch.

« The titles in which I worked very actively were the most beautiful, » she says. An outstanding personal success was also one with the 2014 youth national team when she won the San Marino Gold small states and was awarded the best Libera and best acceptance player.

An injury with consequences

She chose her position on which she was so successful for many years after a serious injury in 2011. At that time, as an attack player, she had landed so unhappily on the foot of a teammate with a high jump on the net that she suffered a cruciate ligament tear. Her father asked her to play as Libera in the future due to the smaller risk of injury. This later proved to be a good decision due to its height of 165 cm.

The position was still a challenge. « As a Libera, you shouldn’t be afraid of hard serves and attacks. You have to be nimble and very reactive, » explains Martin. During the JOBEDIENTION with Welsch, she was always on the field with an opposing serve. Her tasks included cheering up and motivating the teammates after the opponent had made one point.

Today she plays much more in important duels. At the same time, she helps to gradually involve her young colleague and potential successor Elisabeth Wollmering. Because Walferdingen is in change. For several years now, attempts have been made to continue the successful work of the series master with young people. It is easy for anyone. Martin and Braas were committed as much as possible. « We have something to do with the team and the club. We don’t want it to go downhill, » says Martin.

For outsiders, the defending champion’s final back may be a matter of course after so many successes. But not for the players. « At the beginning of the season, our goal was to get among the top four, » reports Martin. When the team defeated Mamer quite clearly in the cup final at the beginning of March, with a disappointing 10:25 in the fourth set, it seemed clear that the permanent competitor is the favorite this time.

For the third time in a row, Mamer and Walferdingen face each other in the league final series according to the best-of-three mode. The final was particularly explosive last year. The second game had to be repeated due to a false point count. Walferdingen finally won in an incredibly exciting game after more than two hours and five sets.

Whether Mamer, the league leader after the regular 2025 season, is now really a favorite is no longer as clear as immediately after the cup. Then Walferdingen survived the league semi-final against V80 Petingen unexpectedly confidently in two games. And now Martin wants to know again: « Now we have made it to the final. Then we also want the title. »