16th august 2008
Beijing (CHN)


In 1998, FIVB decided to introduce the Libero to offer an opportunity to the short Volleyball players to play in the best teams. In that period, Volleyball was risking to become a sport for tall athletes (that risk isn't totally disappeared yet).
After four years in 2002 in Berlin, a dream came true: Paola Cardullo, the Italian libero 158 tall, won the World Championship. The tiny player, involved only in back row fundamentals (reception and defense), could exploit in Volleyball her astonishing rapidity without paying the price for her low height (obviously Paola is short only considering the average height of Volleyball players!)

That change, joined with the following astonishing physical enhancements, has deeply affected the game. Nowadays the Men’s Volleyball has to face a crucial issue: often the rallies are too short and the result depends too much on the players’ physical strength.

This morning, Julio Velasco (my former coach during the nineties) told me that some years ago, he sent to FIVB a proposal intended to reduce the drawbacks caused by the advantage of attack over defense.

Before giving details of this project, I have to say that FIVB didn’t accept that proposition because it was involving a Volleyball historical foundation considered untouchable: the numbers of team players.

This is the idea: the libero doesn't replace a player but performs together with other six players.

Yes, you have understood correctly: there would be seven players in the court all together.

Hereafter a list of pros and cons

PROS:

- Four players will cover better the court making harder the opponents spikers scoring and keeping the ball flying.

- The coaches could develop fascinating and unusual defensive strategies counting on four players rather than three (if we consider also the front line player not involved in blocking there are five athletes available) .
- The middle blocker would keep on playing the entire match, making more exciting a role that has became a little boring.

- The middle blocker’s contemporary profile would change in better because those players would be involved also in defense. Some athletes, tall, slow and exclusively block oriented, would be replaced by players quicker in defense and able to attack from the back row.

- Given that, after the Beijing Olympics Games will be introduced the second libero and the team’s member will increase to fourteen, the coaches could manage the available athletes easier, dividing them in two teams of seven players.

- This change is quite simple to introduce. The libero would keep on playing only in defense and receptions following the current rules without any other complicated rules.

CONS:

- I think that adopting this change the long lasting Women’s Volleyball rallies would lengthen unbearably, and at the same time, introducing the variation just in Men’s Volleyball it seems impracticable to me.

-The change concerns one of the foundation of Volleyball introduced in 1918, when VB adopted the six a-side players rule. By the way, nowadays only in Japan is still practiced the nine players VB.

Any opinions, ideas or suggestions are welcomed send a e-mail  HERE

In the next few days, I write a brief comment about the conditions of all the men's and women's teams which will qualify to the quarter final.

Bye bye andrea zorzi