Ela Tase, the best Albanian volleyball player of all time!

Ela Tase!
“Dinamo”, the champion volleyball player!
1.71 meters tall with an elevation of 3.15 meters!
Holds the titles of “Merited Masters of Sports” / Honor of the Albanian Nation

Born on August 11, 1958, in Tirana. Immediately after finishing primary education (first 8 years) lower and secondary, she decided to take up sports. Perhaps inspired by her brother, Leonard Tase, who was back at the time a volleyball player with the Dinamo youth team, but also by the insistence of one of her teachers, Ela chose the sport of volleyball.

Initially, Ela was ready to join the young players of “17 Nentori”, without even knowing what club she should start with (as she herself testified in an interview on RTSH), but here, under the influence of her brother and cousin Eva Kavaja, who was one of the best volleyball players of Dinamo back in time, Tase would sign with “big letters” with Dinamo, the team that would become the great volleyball champion, an unconditional love.

She made her debut in October 1974, in the decisive match in the 3rd National Spartakiad against “17 Nentori”, coach Kreshik Tartari activated her in the game when she was not yet 16 years old,

The rival teams of Albanian volleyball were “17 Nentori” and Skenderbeu. But another strong team was appearing on the horizon, it was Dinamo who became the winner of the Albanian championships and cups.

In the 1974-75 season Tase officially moved to the first team as a starter, and in 1975 she made his debut with the National Team in a series of matches played in the Republic of China.

The key point that would mark her explosion as a champion was precisely the return from China, where Dinamo had gone for a friendly tournament. The methodology of the training sessions and a contemporary volleyball the Chinese played greatly influenced the formation of Ela Tase as a player.

Ela Tase with Dinamo managed to collect 16 championship titles and 14 Cups of Republic (National Cup of Albania), out of a total of 30 trophies. Her success was also in the international arena with Dinamo as the team that honored Albanian volleyball in the Champions Cup during the decade of the `80s.

In 1975, she debuted with the Albanian representative while facing in Athens, Greece. She has been declared the best volleyball player in the Balkans three times. In 1988, she was the runner-up of the Balkans with Albania, winning the silver medals, and two years later, in 1990, in Bulgaria, Albania managed to wave the flag in the top three Balkan countries. With the national volleyball representative, she was the winner of the Mediterranean Games in Latakia in 1987.

For Ela, her adrenaline was the audience that filled the sports palace to overflowing, especially in international matches, where she knew how to exalt it after every victory, whether for Dinamo or for the red black National Albanian team!

From April 21, 1979, she became the captain of Dinamo until the retirement – after fourteen years of activity – of Donika Muka, another outstanding Dinamo player before Tase.

Since June 1979, she is “Mjeshtre e Merituar e Sportit”, later “Nderi i Sportit Shqiptar”.

On 18 January 1981, due to an accident to her right knee in the Champions Cup match in Schwerin, Ela Tase was subsequently hospitalized in Budapest for an emergency operation – performed by Prof. Risko Tibor – which was a complete success. However, this prevented her from participating in the semi-finals (Tirana, 28 January-1 February 1981) and finals (Korçë, 11-15 February 1981) of the Republic Cup.

From the hospital in Budapest, on February 11, 1981, she sent a telegram to her Dinamo teammates who were playing in the final round of the Coppa della Repubblica: «Kam besim se ekipi ka forca për të luajtur më cilësi, dhe pa mua». And that’s how it went. Tase also missed the return leg of the 1980-81 National Championship: however, she became champion of the season 1980-81 for having played the first leg (September 28-December 6, 1980).

Having gone on maternity leave, she did not play any matches in the period 7 March 1983-15 September 1984.

Due to a problem with her right knee, which worsened on the eve of the final round of the 1988-89 Republic Cup (Tirana, 28 March-1 April 1989), she was unable to play; Ela Tase (along with Mimoza Ibrahimi, Lulëzim Duka and Jorgeta Qirici) was not used, by decision of coach Kreshnik Tartari, in the semi-final group in Shkodër (13-17 September 1988).

Ela Tase, from the 1991-92 to 1993-94 seasons was in Macedonia to play for Shkëndia Tetovë (two second places); recalled “coram populo” – «Guri i rëndë në vendin e vet» – by fans and management, she returned in the 1994-95 season leading Dinamo to victory, both in the Championship and in the Republic Cup.

She was also present ten times in the popular referendum: (Anketa) “The best ten athletes of Albania” organized by the newspaper “Sporti popullor”, an absolute record to date:
1976 (January 4, 1977): 5th place;
1977 (January 3, 1978): 4th;
1978 (January 1, 1979): 4th;
1979 (January 1, 1980): 3rd;
1980 (January 6, 1981); 3rd;
1986 (January 23, 1987): 3rd;
1987 (February 3, 1988): 3rd;
1988 (17 February 1989): 4th;
1989 (2 February 1990): 9th;
1990 (January 1991): 5th.

Ela Tase is a symbol not only of Albanian and European volleyball, but of the entire national sport.

Being an excellent player of a high format, she has not lacked offers from foreign teams even though it was known that she was not allowed due to the system that had predetermined it by law. In Schwerte, Germany, in an interview with a German journalist, she refuses his proposal if she wanted to play with the Schwerte team.

She retired as the current champion, in 1995, ending 23 splendid seasons that crossed national and international volleyball from the second half of the 1970s to the middle of the 1990s. That same year she won the last championship title with her Dinamo, where the team was led by her brother, Leonard Tase.

Table of International success:
1979: Bronze medal at the Balkan Championships, proclaimed best Balkan player
1980: Finalist of the European Champions Cup 1979-80
1980: Bronze medal at the Balkan Championships
1981: Semi-finalist of the European Champions Cup 1980-81
1983: Semi-finalist of the European Champions Cup 1982-83
1986: Bronze medal at the Balkan Championships, proclaimed best Balkan player
1987: Qualified with Dinamo Tirana to the final of the European Cup Winners’ Cup 1986-87
1987: Gold medal at the X Mediterranean Games in Latakia (Syria)
1988: Gold medal at the International Tournament in Thessaloniki (Greece) 1988: Medal silver medal at the Balkan Championships, proclaimed best Balkan player
1989: Winner of the historic hat-trick: Championship-Cup-Spartakiade
1990: Bronze medal at the 1989-1990 European Champions Cup
1990: Silver medal at the Bari International Tournament (Italy), with the National Selection
1990: Gold medal at the Balkan Championships
1990: Gold medal at the Palermo International Tournament (Italy), with the National Selection
1991: Semi-finalist of the 1990-1991 European Champions Cup
1991: Silver medal at the III International Tournament “Alexandria” in Thessaloniki (Greece) behind the Moscow Selection
1991: Semi-finalist of the XI Mediterranean Games
1991: Gold medal at the IV International Tournament of Partinico (Palermo, Italy)
1991: Finalist of the final tournament of the XVII European Championships

Table of National successes:
Albanian Champion: 1974-75, 1975-76, 1976-77, 1977-78, 1978-79, 1979-80, 1980-81, 1981-82, 1982-83, 1986-87, 1987-88, 1988-89, 1989-90, 1990-91, 1994-95

Winner of the Republic Cup: 1976-77, 1979-80, 1981-82, 1982-83, 1984-85, 1985-86, 1986-87, 1987-88, 1989-90, 1990-91, 1994-95

Winner of the National Spartakiade: 1979, 1984, 1989

© Copyright
By Pjerin Bj
New York January, 18, 2025
______________________
Sports Vision + Plus / Champion Hours in activity since 2013

Share this post and spread the love: