23rd august 2008
Beijing (CHN)


BRAZIL – U.S.A. 3-1 (25/15) (18/25) (25/13) (25/21)


Some defeats are painful like wounds and the only way to heal is winning.
Women’s Volleyball Brazilian team had many scars like the defeats in the previous semi-final Olympic Games and the final of the last World Championship. Today in Beijing, they had the last chance to recover. Probably, the awareness that this was definitely the last chance made them more resolute.
From the technical perspective the match was not terribly impressive, as it often happens in the finals. In the first set USA played poorly, in the second Brazil was missing and in the third the US team disappeared again. Only in the last set did both teams played together until the twentieth point. Then Fabiana and Sheilla blocked the opponents (attacks) twice in a row and the match was over. The Brazilian blocks were the key of the match (they got 16 blocks and the US players 5 only) forcing the opponents to spike softly or to tip.

After Logan Tom´s last hitting mistakes, the Brazilian players joined a big collective hug. A few seconds later all the players, Ze Roberto and the staff, went one by one to Fofao, the Brazilian captain, for a long lasting quiet hug. She is the leader, the mind of the team and she is going to quit the national team.
That was the perfect end for the long awaited victory, which made Ze Roberto the only coach ever winning a Gold Olympic medal with men and women.




CHINA – CUBA 3-0 (25/16) (21/25) (25/13) (25/20)


Just before starting the the bronze medal match, China and Cuba were disappointed and frustrated because they had both expected to play for the gold medal. These two teams considered the medal bronze more a consolation than a success. I think that this approach is always wrong but I can understand their reasons: the Cubans, after a perfect Preliminary Round, unexpectedly stopped to playing. The Chinese athletes, performing at home and being the former Olympic winners, felt it was a of duty winning the gold medal.

Today, the Chinese team won because its standard performance level is higher than the Cuban one. The Caribbean performance range is very wide. On occasion, the athletes can play wonderfully if motivated and resolute but they can even play very badly if they are aimless and sluggish. Each time they play without a strong motivation, they lose their most important quality and the performance is strongly affected.

Otherwise, the Chinese athletes have significant limits in attack but their excellent individual technique in other fundamentals makes them more steady and consistent. The Chinese team performs fine also when their emotional approach is neutra.
Today they won the bronze medal, which is of course one of the three most important acheivements, but if the Chinese want to develop their current level they have to work on their attack skills.

The Cubans instead, to get better have to answer a crucial question: is the fourth place in 2008 Olympic Games the best result they could achieve?

I think that the Cuban players always have the ability to compete for the Gold medal but they have to change their system following the modern methods. Changing an their deep-rooted habits is a tough challenge and it takes a long time, but I truly believe that Cuban Volleyball could reach better results according to their unbelievable individual physical and technical talent.

bye bye andrea zorzi

22nd august
2008 Beijing (CHN)

Philip Dalhausser is a long- limb giant; amazingly quick in the sand despite of his 206 cm. He is a fantastic blocker, a good receiver and, obviously, an excellent spiker. His team-mate Todd Rogers, a defense specialist, is smaller (187 cm tall) but with surprising spiking abilities. In BVB, finding the right balance between the two athletes is very difficult: one has to be tall to well perform in blocking but also needs to be technically talented in passing and ball controlling. The second player has to mix the digging skills with the power to kill the ball. This is the secret of the two US gold medalists: both of them are the best in their roles. Moreover, their psychological steadiness, which relies also on their technical ability, is unique. The BVB Olympic tournament final ended 2–1 but the US team seemed to be in control of the match also when the Brazilians won the second set. After a slow beginning Dalhausser found the right timing to block Fabio Luiz and T. Rogers displayed his wide range of attacks. As always, the BVB ambience is very joyful and the athletes are particularly easy going. After the last match, just before leaving Beijing, many players calmly took pictures with the smiling Chinese volunteers achieving the perfect Olympic greeting.

Then, I quickly moved to see the first Men’s Semi-Final. USA-Russia was a long tough struggle played at the highest technical level, with very few errors and without any possibilities to predict the outcome. The US team displayed their usual amazing defense skills, organized blocks and the amazing ability to keep on playing without any drop in attention . They never give up. Not even today, when they were two sets ahead and the Russians suddenly started to get better both physically and emotionally. Many times I have described the Russian players as athletes unable to fully exploit their great talent. Today Alekno’s players performed very close to their best and, although they lost, they can be proud of themselves. I know that players after a defeat don’t care at all about any kind of congratulations. They feel only frustrations, disappointments and regrets. Thus, do never try to console or soothe an athlete when he is walking out after a bad defeat. Let him alone because those sad moments are very significant in a player´s career and to be experienced in solitude. That’s why, soon after the match I couldn’t even try to stop the Russian players to get a comment. Only 20 or 30 minutes later the athletes can take on their public duties, speaking with the journalists. The winners instead can immediately show their joy with the team-mates, fans and also reporters. The victory is exciting and electrifying and can be shared.

The second semifinal was a tense and nervous match for both teams. Up to now, the Brazilian performances in the Olympic tournament haven´t been as excellent as in the last six years. They are perfectly aware that the attacking and defense automatisms, which made them “the best team”, are a little jammed. However, they use this difficulty to improve even more their emotional approach. Their energy, their determination and their willpower were and still remain the secret of their successes. Technically speaking, they can be defeated but emotionally they are still a wonderful team. The Italians instead, were doubtful due to some successless years successless. They started very good but, in the second set when the Brazilians raised their level, the Italians failed responding to support the technical pressure. This can partly be understood as I have to recall that Italy from the beginning played without the Libero Mirko Corsano and from the third set without L. Mastrangelo, who got injured in the ankle. Missing of two important players affected the Italians` confidence, but they kept on playing strong-minded . Yet the Italians aren’t stable enough to overcome the opponents´ challenges and a adverse destiny.

Bye bye andrea zorzi

21st august 2008
Beijing (CHN)


Since when I decided to attend to the Women’s Beach Volleyball final, I was wondering how I should have to dress (or undress) to protect myself from the unbearable heat and humidity in Chaoyang Park. This morning as soon as I opened the curtains, I discovered that was heavily raining and the heat wouldn’t be a trouble.
The Beijing’s roads were cars jam-packed and it took almost one hour to arrive to the Beach Volley Ball (BVB) venue.
Luckily, I get there just before the beginning of the final match played by US May-Treanor and Walsh and Chinese Tian Ja-Wang.
In the journalists´ stands I met Karch Kiraly, three gold medals winner (two in VB and one in BVB) now commenting BVB for NBC.
I asked if the rain can badly affect the game. He said that the biggest difficulty is the ball slipperiness due to the rainwater. The players have to be very careful in controlling each touch. During the match, the court assistants accurately keep on drying the balls but obviously, it isn’t enough. All the players in these conditions set the ball with underhand passing because the overhand set is too risky.
Another difference depends on the wet sand, which is more compact making easier jumping and moving. Lastly the rain drops can seriously disturb the players’ eyes when they look up to follow the ball.
In conclusion, the BVB players technically more skilled can take a small advantage playing in a rainy day.

The skillful Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh’s won easily the final with a double 21-18.
I think that they would have won even with any kind of weather because their superiority is so clear.
I don’t dare to analyze tactically nor technically the match because I’m not a BVB specialist, but I enjoyed very much their excellent technical ability and their surprising quickness in the sand.

After the BVB final, I went back to the Capital Gymnasium (the VB venue) when Women’s US team was overwhelming Cuba. In only three sets the North-Americans got the right to play the Olympic final after 24 years (the last final was in 1984 in Los Angeles Olympic Games).
Cuba made one more time the same error relying only on strong serve and attack. When those fundamentals don’t work out they are in trouble, bad trouble. After the great preliminary round and the effortless quarter-final, suddenly the Cuban players stopped to play.


A few hour later the Brazilians reached the finals winning easily in three sets.
Ze Roberto’s players exploited their back row attack, jump serve, quick set to outside position. They are the best so far.

In the press conference after the match, Ze Roberto admitted for the first time since a long time, that his team performed well in serve, attack, block, counterattack and dig. Usually he prefers to point out the weakest point of his team, but today it was really difficult to find any one.


Bye bye andrea

20th august 2008
Beijing (CHN)



RUSSIA–BULGARIA 3 - 1

(20/25) (25/16) (25/22) (25/21)

From the technical point of view, this match followed a predictable pattern. Both, Russians and Bulgarians have similar technical characteristics: strong serve, powerful attack and good block.
Today, the Russian performed much better than usual in the defense and block organization. They succeeded in switching the players’ block position according to the opponents hitting characteristics. Moreover, they were successful in managing the serve risk level and they displayed the right defense attitude.
From the emotional perspective both teams tried to improve their weakest points.
In the Volleyball world, Bulgarians are considered litigious and Russians spiritless. Therefore, Bulgarians kept on excusing each other with an unusual politeness and Russian always gathered to celebrate together. Both behaviors seemed to me a little studied and unnatural but, on Russian side, it helped a lot.


ITALY–POLAND 3–2

(25/19) (25/22) (18/25) (26/28) (17/15)

Italy-Poland was the most thrilling Volleyball match since the beginning of the Olympic Games. Italian team won the first two sets playing accurately and with few errors. In the third frame the match abruptly changed rhythm because of the Polish defense improvement.
In the fourth game, Poland quickly leaded 8-2 but Italy tied. Then, the two teams advanced together until 22-22, when Poland gained a double set point.
In the first one, Zagumny set to Wlazly, who failed hitting out. The polish setter insisted, setting again to his diagonal spiker who made the same error (24-24).
Lozano called a time out and everybody was asking where Zagumny would set.
He did the most unpredictable , setting for the third time in a row, to Wlazly, who scored.
Did Zagumny act courageously or was just crazy?
In this condition the difference between courage and craziness is extremely thin and no one should judge the player’s choice after the action is completed, as reporters are often used to do.


BRAZIL–CHINA 3-0

(25/17) (25/15) (25/16)

The match against China was just a “good test” for Brazil. It could be wrong defining an Olympics quarter-final game as “a good test”, but the gap between the two squads actually are too wide.
Take a look at the numbers of the game: Brazilian got 12 blocks and Chinese 0 (zero!). Also the attack percentage was incomparable 61% versus 39%.
Bernardinho’s players exploited the match to recover their astonishing speed and they were successful, though they wasted some opportunities attempting the impossible.
However, it might be useful to recall that in the last six years, the Brazilians succeeded in making possible what was commonly considered not possible.
The next step for Brazilian athletes will be the semis against Italy and it definitely won’t be a “test”.


SERBIA–U.S.A. 2-3

(25/20) (23/25) (25/21) (25/18) (12/15)

Only a few hours later, Italy-Poland lost the right to be “the most thrilling Volleyball match since…”. The match between Serbia and USA was emotionally as exciting as the previous one and technically played slight better.
Serbian players were fully active from the beginning while US team needed an entire set to completely switch on. Serbians are naturally competitive and the game against the US players puts even more stimulus on them. Us players instead, don’t need any special motivation to struggle each point, they always do it.
And the match was a tough struggle: just a small drop of Serbians players in the last points was decisive to give the victory to US team.


Bye bye andrea zorzi

19th august 2008
Beijing (CHN)

In all tournaments, the quarter-finals day is actually a special day.

Although the semifinals and finals are more exciting, from the players’ perspective, nothing is more tense and thrilling than quarter-final matches.



CUBA – SERBIA 3–0 (26/24) (25/19) (26/24)

This match tells the story of two opposite psychological conditions.
Cuba, after the remarkable performances in the Preliminary Round, kept on playing with confidence and enthusiasm. Serbia instead, had to overcome the negative sensations accumulated over five poor games.

At this point, all the teams restart from scratch and it’s crucial to stop thinking about the previous matches. Those teams coming from encouraging matches have to avoid being overconfident and those, who played badly, have a unique opportunity to suddenly shift their destiny.

The morning match, played between Cuba and Serbia, with Cuba’s athletes having to put in a big fight to win the first set, , proved that the motivations coming from steadiness is more stable than that of relying on hope.
When facing the crucial points of the first set, the Cubans did the right things in the right moments.
On the other side, the Serbian players paid for their psychological uncertainties.
The victory in the opening set gave the steady Cubans more confidence, and they won effortlessly also the second one, and made the doubtful Serbians even flimsier.

The third set followed exactly the same pattern of the first: it was played point by point until the last point, when the Serbian spiker Nikolic was blocked by Nancy Carrillo, the Cuban middle blocker.
After the defeat, the Serbian players’ expressions displayed their deep feeling, which can be summarize in a few words: “we strived for the best but Cubans deserve this victory”.

By the way, the Caribbean athletes totally agreed with this opinion.


BRAZIL – JAPAN 3-0 (25/12) (25/20) (25/16)

Volleyball is a sort of arithmetical game: almost always, the stronger team wins against the weaker one. After the introduction of RPS, this peculiarity is less effectual but still resists. Nowadays, some matches which would have otherwise been trouble-free, turn to be balanced due to the new scoring system.

In the second quarter-final match, Brazil easily topped Japan and no one ever thought that the match could have ended differently.
The Brazilian athletes are too resolute, too prepared and too skilled, both technically and physically, to lose such a match. In the first set, the South American athletes started fast to make their superiority clear and the result (25/12) reflected such state.

They slowed down in the second set, due to the unavoidable relaxation that comes out from the predictability of the match and the third one was the copy of the first with only one actor in the court.

Now the Brazilians have to face China and it will be another kind of game.

We say goodbye to the Japanese players, who left the Olympic tournament happy despite the defeat. They succeeded in their biggest expectation just by qualifying for the quarter final.


CHINA – RUSSIA 3-0 (25/22) (27/25) (25/19)

On 22 –22, the block of Zhao, Chinese player, was the crucial point of the first set.
That frame confirmed the usual characteristics of both teams. China performed excellently in defense succeeding in 18 digs over 32 attempts (Russia achieved only 9/25 defenses). Although the Chinese team has only one spiker who can kill the predictable sets, their setter fully exploited the quick attack as much as possible.
The Russians represent the other side of the coin: slower and less motivated in the back rows fundamentals and more efficiently in attacking thanks to their distinguishing height and power.

The second set was decided by 13 errors of Russian players. They gained a “double” set point and, before they wasted the first chance failing an attack, they squandered the second easy opportunity because of a unforgivable inaccurateness in “second touch”. Gamova had to spike a ball too close the net and was stopped by a Chinese block.
To point out how significant the Russian mistakes were, consider that Chinese attack percentage was very poor (20%) and no one team can win playing in a such a way without the “help” of the opponent.
Moreover, China also won the last game and the match counting again on the unintentional Russian help.
The Russian athletes have to blame themselves and the Chinese can take a deep breath having overcome the trickiest Olympic tournament phase.


ITALY – U.S.A. 2-3 (25/20) (21/25) (25/19) (18/25) (6/15)

The first two sets, won one each, were substantially balanced. Both the teams played focused and were able to execute well in any phase of the game. There were a lot of long lasting rallies which made the match very exciting.
In the third set the Italian block and the US errors were decisive.

Then the match changed suddenly. At the beginning of the last two sets, Berg, the US setter, serving achieved two very long winning streaks, 8-0 in the fourth and 5-0 in the last one.
The amazing beginning improved the US performance and the athletes turned out to be unstoppable effortlessly overcoming the spiritless opponents.

I think the the Italians, after the victory in the third set, lost a great opportunity to reach the semi-final but the result was totally right.

Bye bye andrea zorzi

18th august 2008
Beijing (CHN)


Also the Men’s Preliminary Round is finished and below you can see the quarters final matches and the comments on those eight teams.

1) U.S.A. - Serbia

2) Italy - Poland

3) Bulgaria - Russia

4) Brazil - China



U.S.A. (1° POOL A) 

Three excellent players: the setter Ball, the diagonal hitter Stanley and the wing hitter Priddy. Two standard middle the blockers, Millar and Lee, and Salmon and Lambourne, two hardworking players, totally committed to digging and passing. All of them joined by a common strong will, able to support the unavoidable ups and downs of any match. This is the basic portrait of the amazing North American team. They make simple Volleyball focusing only on “the good Volleyball playing, nothing else”.
It seems easy but this is the secret to succeed in Volleyball.

ITALY  (2° POOL A)

The Italian team got the second place in Pool A tough Anastasi had to deal with many injures: Fei (sprained ankle), Mastrangelo and Corsano (knee problem). The Italian coach in the five matches started with many different lined up and I don’t know if it was a choice or a necessity.
The best Italian performance so far was against Bulgaria and the worst against USA and China.
Given that Italy “could be” a good team in attacking and blocking, to try to win against Poland they need to play with a totally different defense attitude.
By the way, since the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992, Italy was always considered one of the favorite teams to win the gold medal. Here, many reporters are repeating that this condition is a big advantage because the Italians can play without any pressure. Being a former player I can assure that those kind of matters interest journalists much more than players.

BULGARIA  (3° POOL A)

The Bulgarians had to manage the thorny situation of their captain Konstantinov, who missed the first four matches due to his return to Sofia to test some weird values. Reassured by the results, which excluded the assumptions of any illegal substance, he flew back to Beijing to play the last match (not decisive) of the Preliminary Round. His team-mates have already achieved the qualification to the quarter final but they had to deal with many problems in reception because Konstantinov is their best receiver. The missing of consistent passers and the consequent drop in general efficiency, was the biggest issue of Martin Stoev, the Bulgarian coach.
Now, the team is complete but they could pay for the few matches played together.
Yesterday I described Cuban Women players as “historically unpredictable”. Well, this definition suits perfectly to Bulgarian Men’s team too.

CHINA  (4° POOL A)

I cannot explain why Chinese players are skilled enough in individually but they don’t succeed in playing good as a team. They are endowed of a discrete technique but during the game they make a lot of simple errors.
In the sport we use two terms to describe different phases of the training: analytical and global. The analytical drills aimed to improve the individual abilities while global exercises help to combine together those skills.
Chinese are asymmetric: too analytical and less global.


BRASILE  (1° POOL B)

The Brazilian team is fighting hard because they want to close this cycle with the second Olympic gold medal. Hugh Mc Cutcheon, the US team coach, after the US team victory in the 2007 World Cup defined Brazilian as players “not that better to explain their longest winning streak. The Brazilians worked harder than any other team, thus they deserve a special esteem”.

Now they are trying to deal with Giba’s injury and though their performances aren’t the best ever, they got the first place in the Pool B. They have lost the distinguishing rapidity and smoothness in attack and Gustavo, one of the best blockers in the world, is less efficient than usual. However their willpower is the strongest and I consider Brazil the favorite to win the gold.


RUSSIA  (2° POOL B)

The Russian team was performing well. Grankin, the Russian setter, succeeded in the quick set, which has been considered his weakest point. The correlation with both the middle blockers, Volkov and Kuleshov, was much better than usual. Moreover, the atypical enthusiasm displayed by all the Russian players in the previous matches seemed the proof of their new attitude.
Today Russian players partially wasted what they achieved in the last days.
From the beginning, Poltavskiy replaced Mikhaylov as opposite and, after the first set won easily, they played following their old patterns (no quick attack and weak defense) losing confidence.
After today’s defeat against Poland, I wonder who will be the starting players in the next crucial match against Bulgaria: Poltavskiy or Mikhaylov?
Will Grankin succeed in playing quickly?
Will the Russians recover the confidence they had?
These issues would have been useless if the Russians had played as they did in the last matches.

“The speedy train hard to stop” we have seen so far, is slowing suddenly down.  


POLONIA  (3° POOL B)

I think that Poles have dreamed to be in this conditions. They worked hard to peak at the Olympic Games and since the victory in the first tricky match against Germany they played consistently. Only once (in the match against Brazil, after the first set lost 30-28), they gave up. Lozano, their coach, wants a determined and resolute team. He’s looking for a team able to overcome the tough moments during the game. The Polish players are talented but sometimes they suffered the lack of results.
In the Preliminary Round Wlazly and Winiarski were excellent in sharing their confidence with the other team mates. Poland is a team which can perform well in all the fundamentals, relying on a good mix of psychical strength and technical skills.
The quarter finals are always the most complicated match in all the tournament because the defeat in this phase is a kind of failure. That’s why the pressure is really heavy.

SERBIA  (4° POOL B)

The Serbians seem relaxed despite two victories and three defeats. N. Grbic said that their only concern is the level of their own performances. Serbians aren’t playing as good as they did in Rio de Janeiro a few weeks ago during the World league Finals. They will encounter a squad, USA, that technically speaking is similar. I think that the US team has more probabilities to reach the semifinals because it is playing more steadily than Serbia.

However, I know pretty well I. Miljkovic - the Serbian diagonal hitter - who is a wonderful player able to change alone the destiny of a match, thus the match could be more balanced than expected.


Bye bye andrea zorzi

17th august 2008
Beijing (CHN)


After the Women’s Volleyball Preliminary Round, I point out what I have seen until now.

First of all we have to say goodbye to the four teams which failed to reach the quarter finals.
Three of those four teams, although eliminated, were successful just gaining the right to participate in the Olympic Games.

KAZAKHSTAN, ALGERIA and VENEZUELA came to Beijing well knowing that the qualification to the quarter finals would have been highly improbable.

The young VENEZUELAN team, due to the "relative" vicinity with Cuba, plays with the unusual system distinguishing the Cubans athletes (two setters and four spikers) .

KAZAKHSTAN, having been part of the former Soviet Union, follows the Russian style relying mostly on power.

Lastly, before judging the ALGERIAN performances, the less advanced team, it’s necessary to remember that they have to deal daily with the lack of sport facilities and the intricate North African environment surrounding the female athletes.

POLAND was unexpectedly eliminated though its squad had all the qualities to reach the quarter finals. They lost the crucial match against Japan and it was decisive. During this tournament, the Polish players started the matches playing efficiently but, as soon as they had to face the first difficulties, they gave up displaying their fragility. It seems to me that that odd instability depends mainly on a sort of thorny relations within the group (player and technical staff included). After the last defeat against the US team, Marco Bonitta, the Italian coach leading the Polish team, stated that he is going to quit and start coaching Men’s squads only.

BRAZIL (1° POOL B)

After the preliminary Round, Ze Roberto’s team is definitely the best team. They are playing wonderfully in any phases of the game. They have the right attitude and concentration and they succeeded easily in any fundamentals. So far, no team seems steady enough to compete with Brazilians players. Ze Roberto keeps on playing down their victories to lighten the pressure depending on the past: Brazil won a lot of tournaments but they never got the gold medal in the Olympic Games.

ITALY (2° POOL B)

This is not the same team I saw in the 2007 World Cup. That team played with patience, smartness and accuracy, avoiding any unforced errors. Today, in the match against Brazil, the players seemed totally out of control. On one hand, Lo Bianco’s distribution was confused and unstrategical, the spikers - on the other hand - were unable to overcome the opponent’s block. In defense the Italians were slow, inaccurate and, moreover, with the wrong emotional approach. I know and I appreciate the Italian coach Barbolini, thus I think that - though the poor performance - he can improve this negative condition and face quite confidently the quarter final against USA

RUSSIA (3° POOL B)

Before the last game with Serbia, Russia was already qualified counting on the victories over ALGERIA and KAZAKHSTAN. Though the Russians achieved their first goal, they have to deal with many uncertainties. Both the setters are often considered responsible for the poor performances. As a matter of fact, M. Akulova and M. Sheshinina aren’t so accurate as they should be to play at this level, but blaming a player (intended as a role) like the sole responsible for the bad performances hides the truth. The Russian athletes should perform with the right attitude focusing on the different game phases rather than relying only on service, attack and block. Today they easily topped Serbia displaying some improvements both at technical (quick set and defense) and emotional levels. In the next match Russia will face China and the players will have to keep on playing with patience, smartness as they did against Serbia to have any chance to win.


SERBIA  (4° POOL B)

Terzic, the Serbian coach, after the defeat against Russia said: “we would have played the Preliminary Round to improve our game level but we failed. I think that in the Quarter Final against Cuba we can show that we didn’t forget how we can play Volleyball”.
His face was grim and also the players during the game were unusually aimless. They Russian serve efficiency affected the Serbian attack but they performed poorly also in the other fundamentals not depending on the opponents excellence. The spirited strong willed team ready to chase any ball, seen many times in the last years, has disappeared and who knows if in two days it will come back.


CUBA  (1° POOL A)

By far the best team in the Pool A. The Cubans easily overwhelmed all the opponents but the Chinese team, with whom, six days ago, they were losing 2-0. In the third set, Santos, one of the two Cubans setters, begun serving wonderfully and after that, the Caribbean succeeded in winning three sets in a row.
The Cubans are playing unexpectedly good in defense and block, which have been often their weaker points. Obviously they rely mainly on attack and serve but, what makes the difference from the recent past, are the control and stability they seem to have finally found. The quarter final match against Serbia could turn to be effortless, but we have to take into consideration the pressure of the “in or out” Olympic match, the Serbian pride and the historical Cuban unpredictability.
They can do anything: play wonderfully or poorly and no one, not even them, can know before.

U.S.A. (2° POOL A) 

The most frequent suggestion Lang Ping gave to her players during the time out is: “forget the result and focus only on the current point”. The US coach, born in China, is the most stable coach I have ever seen. She acts always like a quiet and positive leader (probably her oriental origin helps to behave in this way). She never displays any worries, also when the match is actually complicated. The North- American players take advantage of this confidence playing at their best. Both the US teams Women and Men, are standard talented but they fully exploit their skills. During the Preliminary Round the other teams have difficulty spotting the US game strategies because Lang Ping was rotating all the available players, who repay her with good performances.

CHINA (3° POOL A)

The home team has a big issue: they have only one powerful hitter and playing against the top teams turns out to be a big disadvantage. Those squads can easily foresee who would attack, thus prepare at their best to reduce the effect of the spikes.
After two defeats in a row (against Cuba and USA) they were worried and risked to lose the first set against Japan in the last Preliminary Round match. Could you imagine the pressure of the Chinese athletes playing at home with the “beloved” cousins!
Now they will face Russia and the crucial point will be: how many opportunities got in defense will they’ exploit attacking effectively?

JAPAN  (4° POOL A)

I like the Japanese approach to the games. They know that they aren’t a first class team, but they play any match with great awareness without discouraging nor giving up. Japanese are extremely skilled only in defense and they keep always striving for the best. They never look at the score board and often, after the defeats, it seems that they are more concerned to evaluate their own performances than the mere results. This wise behavior was crucial in the decisive match against Poland. Japanese players were two sets ahead, when the match suddenly changed. Polish players started to block much better and easily won the third set. The fourth was more balanced but it was also won by the Polish girls.
In that conditions, the most part of the athletes would have shown signs of disappointment. Not the Japanese, they played consistently and succeeded in winning the most important match of their Olympic Tournament.
In the next match this approach won’t be enough to win against Brazil, but I’m sure that they will do their best deserving the sincere congratulations for having reached their goal: the qualification to the quarter final.

Bye bye andrea zorzi

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

14th august 2008
Beijing (CHN)


Has a new era begun?

Yes, it seems that in the third day of the Olympic tournament, after the Russian victory over Brazilians, the Volleyball World definitely lost the dominator of the last six years and is waiting for the new one.

I would like to analyze this match in a bigger frame remembering the last three games played between Russia and Brazil.

During the 2008 World League Finals held in Rio de Janeiro, in the first Pool Play match, South-Americans effortless overwhelmed Russians. That was the last match which can be considered belonging to the recent past, when Brazil was unbeatable.
Four days after, the two teams played the matches for the third place. In that occasion Russia succeeded in winning, although before the match, the Alekno's players appeared doubtful and not very resolute. Relying on that unexpected success Russians became more and more confident, while Brazilians turned to be unsure for the first time after many years.

Today’s match was the first crucial test since Brazilians lost the image of the invincible team .

The first note concerns the Brazilian coach, who was less frantic than usual. His guys were playing smoothly and efficiently so far and Bernardinho have leaded every match screaming, limping and scolding. Today, being aware of the insecurity of the players he was much more quite and tranquil. He knows that in these conditions he has to be more temperate.

Brazil blocked worst that usual, served and attacked with less efficiency also because Giba (usually the most important player in this fundamental) played only in the third set due to a shoulder injury. Now, Brazilians have to deal with some poor performances and they aren’t used since long time.

On the other side, Russia got more and more confident finally exploiting its huge talent. The proof was the disciplined digging performance supported by the distinguishing powerful attack -Mikhailov, who replaced Poltavsky, played wonderfully-. Surprisingly, they were successful using quick spikes (mostly with Volkov) and the sturdy block put a lot of pressure on Brazilians hitters.

The third set (ended 31-29) was crucial, as many time it happens when the frames are balanced and fought until the end, and the fourth game confirmed the Russians' superiority.
Last but not least, the players displayed a truly unusual emotional approach: Mikhailov, Volkov, Verbov, acted like what Brazilians have done for many years forgetting, for one day, their distinctive sternness.

It might be too early to say that a new era has begun but the Russian team seems a train speedily running, hard to stop.

Another team definitely got rid of the psychological pressure and found the right rhythm.
Today, the Polish squad performed very good winning a tough match against Serbia and securing the qualification to quarter final. The unselfconfident team seen in the last months disappeared, achieving the victory thanks to a great play in the crucial moments.

All the others teams but USA, are searching for the right pace: Bulgaria and Italy are still a puzzle, Venezuela, Japan and China are performing at their level but they cannot aim at any medals.

Bye bye andrea zorzi

13th august 2008
Beijing (CHN)

In the last few year, Beach Volleyball reached an astonishing popularity all around the world due to its distinguishing wonderful and joyful atmosphere.
The Chaoyang Park, the Beijing’s Beach Volleyball Olympic Venue, with the sun (a blurred sun to say the truth), sand, music, great cheering audience and, last but not least, wonderful athletes is one the most enjoyable Olympic site.
Each time I attend a BVB (Beach Volley Ball) event, I get pleasure from the nice environment but, above all , I’m actually impressed by the players easiness -out of the court- and by their unbelievable physical and tactical talent - on the field -.
Many fans could be attracted by the charming and entertaining ambiance but, from my perspective, what is actually remarkable, are the players' skills.

Let me start from the classification of BVB, which is defined a team sport.
I think that BVB is an individual sport, played with a team mate.

During a BVB match, the possibilities to cooperate, assist or help the team-mate are limited by the inner characteristics of this game. If one athlete has a weak point (for instance poor passing or hitting) the opponents can easily exploit this weakness.
In the BVB being a full skilled athlete (I means in all fundamentals) is necessary.

Then, the weather conditions (temperature and humidity) are extremely demanding mostly concerning the physical endurance. The sun and the sand quickly drain off the players’ energies and the crises come suddenly. The athletes affected by those setbacks become an easy target for the opponent team, overturning in a few second a trouble-free match into an unpredictable defeat.

Try to put yourself in the player's shoes who knows perfectly that he is the sole responsible for the defeat. He has to deal with his disappointment and irritation and also with his team-mate frustration.
In the indoor Volleyball (VB), it never happens. A single player can’t ever be blamed for a defeat, even if he missed the last crucial point. The coach can substitute the players or change some positions, that’s why the responsibilities have always to be shared.

Lastly, let me outline the technical skills of the modern BVB players pointing out the rare successful transition between BV and VBV.

In the eighties, Karch Kiraly (the Us player awarded by FIVB as the Best Player of the Century) won two VB gold medals (in 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games) and a BVB gold medal (1996 in Atlanta).
He was actually an exceptional and unreachable champion but, since then, only Ana Paula Connelly (BRA), R. Nummerdor and R. Schuil (NED) succeeded in the transition between VB to BVB. Many others athletes played in both disciplines with fairly good achievements, but only those above mentioned were actually successful.

By the way, no one BVB player was doing well starting from BVB and going to VB.

The different psychological abilities and technical skills are the principal reasons of this rare and tough passage. In the last fifteen or twenty years, due to the enhanced level of the game, both sports were subject to a the deep technical and tactical specialization. The time needed to familiarize with different environments, techniques, ball and life style, became longer in the last years, so the athletes have to decide in the early twenties which sport to play.

Next days I’ll write more specifically about the technical and tactical distinctions, also mentioning the different game rules distinguishing VB and BVB.

Bye bye andrea zorzi