Tv - Think Volleyball

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Hugh McCutcheon thinks volleyball

TV – 20 questions Think Volleyball Inquiry, version 1c

This month we have the honor of receiving another legend of volleyball, Hugh McCutcheon. With a brilliant speech, Hugh takes us, step by step, through his view of how to make volleyball better. Among other things, Hugh is best known for being the former head coach of the US men's national volleyball team, the former head coach of the US women's national volleyball team, and the current head coach of the University of Minnesota's women's volleyball team. So, let's hear Hugh thinking volleyball.

Hugh McCutcheon:

We need to increase television exposure, and part of that is figuring out whether we try to manage match duration through a different scoring system. In addition, as much as we need to market the athletes who play this game, we also need to connect people to the game itself. The skills in volleyball are complicated, as are many of the rules, so it’s not easy for non-volleyball people to understand and appreciate our sport. Everyone can kick or bounce a ball, or hit it with a stick, but not everyone can pass and spike. We need to create an audience through an appreciation and understanding of what makes our sport so great and so unique.

Hugh McCutcheon:

I think National Leagues are the best vehicle for creating the ‘show’. These leagues are more agile in terms of making changes than National Federations. Also they can customize the way they package the events based on what marketing strategies best suit their particular demographic. International volleyball should still be a great spectacle, but that should be more a function of the level of play – not the events surrounding it.

Hugh McCutcheon:

Say and do everything you can to help your team win the next point – simple to say, very hard to do. It takes a commitment from the coaches to teach and an equal commitment from the athletes to learn.

Hugh McCutcheon:

Some countries, like Italy, have a strong history of success in Volleyball. They have strong leagues, great coaching and strong grass-roots programs. For other countries to emerge, they have to find their own competitive advantages and try to leverage those through hard and smart work and the creative use of resources.

Hugh McCutcheon:

When we travel it’s a business trip, not a vacation, so we do what we need do to prepare for competition – regardless of our location. If we get an opportunity to experience the local culture then we will absolutely take it, but only if our commitments to the competition have been met.

Hugh McCutcheon:

I think it certainly should be considered as a possible pathway for athlete development. USA does not have a professional league but it’s college programs have been a great feeder system for the National Team programs.

7 - Something you learned in volleyball that you take to your attitude before everything:

Hugh McCutcheon:

Control the things you can control and give best effort in everything you do.

8 - Something you learned outside volleyball that you bring into it:

Hugh McCutcheon:

Connecting with people, in real and authentic ways, makes collaboration and the achievement of Team goals possible.

9 – Literature, Arts, Cinema, and volleyball: is there any fictional work that you know that puts us inside this sport? And what non fictional book is your “bible” in volleyball?

Hugh McCutcheon:

I don’t know of any fictional work that has impacted my volleyball career. I read non-fiction when I can (but I have a job that gets in the way of my reading!). I can’t say that there’s one book that’s my “go-to”. Like most coaches though, I’m always working to improve my knowledge base.

10 - What changes in the game would make it better?

Hugh McCutcheon:

We need to try and standardize match duration, it is currently a barrier to televising our sport. In addition, we should encourage any rule changes that extend rally’s, decrease unforced errors, and make our sport accessible (easier to understand) for spectators.

11 - Tell us a secret about your work that you think makes it singular:

Hugh McCutcheon:

There’s no secret – just the work.

12 - Can an athlete reach excellency without wining? Why?

Hugh McCutcheon:

Of course – we can only become the best we can become. We cannot control if others are better. Just because you lose doesn’t mean you’re a loser.

13-Which is the most important part of the game (give us a detailed view of each technical gesture and each part of the game) for you?

Hugh McCutcheon:

Our game is disproportionally weighted towards serving and passing.

14 – What do you think about, and how do you manage, internal competition in the team?

Hugh McCutcheon:

I think internal competition is a critical part of successful teams. We teach and encourage our athletes to embrace the moment of competition.

15 - Leave a message to athletes with the essence of what you think they should put in volleyball and can make them and the sport great:

16 - The same to coaches:

17 - Finally, the same to directive staff:

Hugh McCutcheon:

For all: Teams become successful through the combined effort and commitment of everyone involved. Coaches, Players, Staff - everyone has the ability to help the team. It is up to everyone to understand this, and then say and do everything they can to help the team win the next point. That unity of effort, energy and intent leads to success.

18 - Your Idol in Volleyball, and why:

Hugh McCutcheon:

I don’t think I have a volleyball idol but I’ve learned a lot from Carl McGown and Doug Beal.

19 - Your idol in sports, and why:

Hugh McCutcheon:

Possibly MJ (Michael Jordan)? But I have admired many sports people over the years.

20 - Your idol in life, and why:

Hugh McCutcheon:

My parents and my family. They have taught me how to live and how to love.

Thank you, Hugh McCutcheon. Let's make volleyball better. This in an independent inquiry, both in questions and in answers.

TV – Think Volleyball (from volleyballers to volleyballers) – PG-M Pedro Guilherme-Moreira

Saturday, January 7, 2017

Carlos Prata thinks volleyball

Professor Prata was one of my coaches about three decades ago, and he seems to be here forever. In portuguese volleyball he was always discrete, a true worker, lover and connoisseur of the essence of this sport. As he says here, "the more you know, the more simple you are". Let us hear Professor Prata thinking volleyball.

TV – 20 questions Think Volleyball Inquiry, version 1b

1 - Volleyball is the 4 or 5th sport in the world with a wider base of fans, even greater than basketball. What should be made to communicate and show better this sport that so many millions practice and love?

Carlos Prata:
TV coverage is fundamental but many times is not so easy. There are so many sports fighting for television coverage. USA is a big player on world media coverage and Volleyball is not here a strong sport. So, I think that all the players – Club teams, Federations, Continental Confederations and FIVB in the world of sport have to facilitate this TV coverage.

2 - Concepts like NBA make the show and the sport themselves. Do you think volleyball, as a show, would benefit from concepts like those? If yes, how and where should it be built? World League? In a strong national league like NBA?

Carlos Prata:
NBA is always a dream to all sports, but we are talking of a country where sport has a big expression and powerful conditions to run a NBA. Maybe in Europe we could think of an European league between the different countries, but it wouldn’t be easy because of the financial conditions that would be necessary. We have the European Cups and so, but I cannot see in a near future a likely NBA in Volleyball. Also the political time is not open to it, I think (see the nationalism that is expanding all over the Europe).

3 – Means and goals, strategy and principles. Are there limits in strategy to the victory? For example, do you admit pressure inside the court, with your players bullying players from the opposite team? What are the limits? And when you want to hire a certain player, should there be a regulation to the way athletes are contacted and by whom?

Carlos Prata:
I think that human values are made of limits. So the same for the way you can fight to victory. The same when you want to hire a predetermined player. You must do the things in a correct way. I believe in these values. Maybe others think that they can go on without them. This is an education story.

4 - How do countries like Italy manage to stay at the top for so many years, how did countries like Poland, Germany or France reach the top and how can countries with tradition in volleyball like Portugal and Spain, among others, get there?

Carlos Prata:
Sport’s policy is, for me, always the key. You have to think and organize the way that you want to go. Today we have some studies that show us this. SPLISS, which stands for Sports Policy factors Leading to International Sporting Success, is a tool to study the competitiveness of nations in elite sport, let us understand the fundamental points. So, in Volleyball wouldn’t be different. We need to work together, to brainstorm the ways to develop and go. But it is not easy in countries like Portugal and Spain.

5 - Is it essential, like in the USA, that the sport in the university should be considered as a foreground to the main leagues, as athletes are much more mature than in the younger leagues? How strong in the university volleyball in your country?

Carlos Prata:
Sport in University is so weak in Portugal and of such a low level. Not good structures and organization. Nothing to compare with USA or also Germany or Great Britain.

6 - Do you think that the sport taught in schools would benefit from specialized school subjects that could be an option in the pre-university and university years, like we see in some countries, like the subject “indoor volleyball” or “beach volleyball”, even if the graduation is different, in theory, like, v.g, Law or Architecture?

Carlos Prata:
I think that in some countries, like Germany, France, Poland and others, this is in place, if we are talking about Volleyball Schools for the most talented young players. I think that this is one of the ways to the elite level.

7 - Something you learned in volleyball that you take to your attitude before everything:

Carlos Prata:
Competition is the law of life and not only of sport. You win and you lose in sport and the same is true in life.

8 - Something you learned outside volleyball that you bring into it:

Carlos Prata:

Trust in people. I believe that in sport you can do the same. Maybe you can have disillusions but that is the same in life. You have to start again.

9 – Literature, Arts, Cinema, and volleyball: is there any fictional work that you know that puts us inside this sport? And what non fictional book is your “bible” in volleyball?

Carlos Prata:
Volleyball and literature, I don’t know. The second question is easy, at least for me – “ Power Volleyball “ from Arie Sellinger is, for me, the top volleyball book.

10 - What changes in the game would make it better?

Carlos Prata:
Not an easy question. I think FIVB and NCAA – National Collegiate Athletic Association Volleyball in USA are trying something, but not finding it. Evolution in sport will always take place, but this cannot change in an easy way.

11 - Tell us a secret about your work that you think makes it singular:

Carlos Prata:
I always think that there are no secrets. We always learn with each other. If you look at great coaches, normally they are humble and simple people, open to the others. Of course, not always, but in general. I believe that the more you know the more simple you are. At least you know that you know near almost nothing.

12 - Can an athlete reach excelency without wining? Why?

Carlos Prata:

I think so. You don’t need to win all the time to show your level of elite. But you need to show your excellence in the game inside and outside.

13-Which is the most important part of the game (give us a detailed view of each technical gesture and each part of the game) for you? Should the “curtain” (blocking the view to the server) should be punished more often or allowed?

Carlos Prata:
Serve and reception are for me the keys. But in in general all are important. I don’t think that “curtain” is something that we see so often. A team that use it is not so good and is afraid of the adversary.

14 – What do you think about, and how do you manage, internal competition in the team?

Carlos Prata:
This is very important. The problem is that many times you have not a balanced team that gives the possibility to change players like you would like. So, pressing is always something that the players must feel, otherwise they can let go in a “sweet life” and this is not good, for the team and for themselves.

15 - Leave a message to athletes with the essence of what you think they should put in volleyball and can make them and the sport great:

Carlos Prata:
Do always your best and fight to be the best that you can be.
16 - The same to coaches:

Carlos Prata:
Never stop learning, because life and volleyball are always a learning way until our death.

17 - Finally, the same to directive staff:

Carlos Prata:
Do your best to have the best team that you can have.

18 - Your Idol in Volleyball, and why:

Carlos Prata:
Bruno Resende – the Brazilian setter because of his posture (attitude) and simplicity.

19 - Your idol in sports, and why

Carlos Prata:
Coaches – John Wooden, Phil Jackson and many other in Volleyball – Arie Selinger, Doug Bill, Hugh MacCutcheon, Bill Neville.

20 - You idol in life, and why:

Carlos Prata:

Not an idol, but some exceptional human beings - Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein.

Thank you for your answers. Let's make volleyball better. This in an independent inquiry, both in questions and in answers.

TV – Think Volleyball (from volleyballers to volleyballers) – PG-M Pedro Guilherme-Moreira

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Glenn Hoag thinks volleyball

Glenn Hoag is canadian and one of the top volleyball coaches in the world, today.

Recently, he took Canada national team from group 2 to the top 10 of group 1 and made an impressive Olympic tournmanent in Rio 2016. As a player, Glenn is a former international as outside hitter for the Canada men's national volleyball team from 1981-1986. Father of great players like Nick and Christopher Hoag, Glenn advocates that the strategy to promote our sport is a strong world leadership that syncs with clubs and national teams. Glenn also believes volleyball is the ultimate team sport. Strong is the idea that, as a player, he needed other to succeed. Traveling world wide as a top athlete and coach, he learned perspective. There is always someone or something better. There is always someone or something worst. A team with many egos tends to fall, a team without egos tend to rise. He talks about a great book that is friend, the portuguese coach Carlos Prata (the next post here, in ThinkVolleyball, early 2017), gave him, about All Blacks. He also has a curious and "out of the box" view about the beauty of the game (opposites reveiving, setter striking, to stop boring games of serve and error). We learn a lot "seeing" Glenn Hoag thinking volleyball.

TV – 20 questions Think Volleyball Inquiry, version 1b

1 - Volleyball is the 4 or 5th sport in the world with a wider base of fans, even greater than basketball. What should be made to communicate and show better this sport that so many millions pratice and love?

Glenn Hoag: I think if our game would be understood better, then we would bring out the beauty of it. The actions we see in volleyball are all done by individuals without an opponent to restrain it. So execution becomes important for each phase of the rally and by each individuals involved. To me it is the ultimate team sport. Each player has a role and a responsibility and all this has to be synchronised in the most perfect way. When executed well, it is a great sport to watch.

2 - Concepts like NBA make the show and the sport themselves. Do you think volleyball, as a show, would benefit from concepts like those? If yes, how and where should it be built? World League? In a strong national league like NBA?

Glenn Hoag: I think there is a need to have a common philosophy on how we promote our sport. Right now, I don’t think it is the case. As a national team coach and a professional club coach, I can see an obvious disconnect between the two entities, federations and clubs. The NBA, the NHL are powerful circuits that are leaders in the promotion of the sport. We don’t have this in volleyball so leadership is spread to different small entities.

3 – Means and goals, strategy and principles. Are there any limits in strategy to the victory? For example, do you admit pressure inside the court, with your players bullying players from the opposite team? What are the limits? And when you want to hire a certain player, should there be a regulation to the way athletes are contacted and by whom?

Glenn Hoag: I like my players to focus on our game, on executing our volleyball. There is obviously moments where outside factors such as spectators, noise or an opponent players that can take you focus away from what you are suppose to do to perform. Our mental coach in Canada calls it “potholes”, they are situations that you need to recognize or else you will hit them again and again like a car hitting holes in the road. We try to make sure that our athletes recognize them and return their focus on what is important for our play, our team, our performance.

4 - How do countries like Italy manage to stay at the top for so many years, how did countries like Poland, Germany or France reach the top and how can countries with tradition in volleyball like Portugal and Spain, among others, get there?

Glenn Hoag: In Canada or USA, volleyball is not a traditional sport. I mean by this that for us it is a school base sport compared to Italy, Poland, Germany and France who all have clubs and professional leagues.

These teams have created systems of development for their youth that support their clubs and their national teams. The USA, like Russia, has the advantage of having a big population, thus helping with having more possibilities in having better athletes, the USA also created a common approach that fits their reality, that being a school base sport.

I think the best way for Portugal, Spain, Canada, who are smaller countries in population and where the sport is not traditional, would be to have a system adapted to the specific realities. This is why I often look at why countries like Slovenia, Serbia develop good athletes in many sports, they are small country in population.

You can take some lessons from traditional volleyball countries like Italy, Poland or highly populated countries with less tradition, like USA, but in the end you cannot copy that model, you have to think about how you can grow the sport in your own culture.

5 – When you travel with your team, to traineeships or competitions, do you defend that the team should be isolated in a bubble, with no contact with the “outside world”, or, on the contrary, you think that the team should promote the contact with local reality, including or not the adversaries, like we see, for example, before great matches in the ATP world tour? What are the advantages or disadvantages of each option

Glenn Hoag: I want my players to be exposed to local reality. When they will enter the court for the competition, they will be facing many destabilizing factors and environments. My players need to be used to this. I don’t believe in isolating the athletes. We have a set of rules and behaviours that we would like to be followed by the players when we are competing, but we don’t isolate them.

For me sport is a learning environment full of destabilizing moments, I need to educated my team to deal with these stresses. The game environment is uncertain, destabilizing I have to prepare the athlete to navigate these waters.

6 - Do you think that the sport taught in schools would benefit from specialized school subjects that could be an option in the pre-university and university years, like we see in some countries, like the subject “indoor volleyball” or “beach volleyball”, even if the graduation is different, in theory, like, v.g, Law or Architecture, and is it essential, like in the USA, that the sport in the university should be considered as a foreground to the main leagues, as athletes are much more mature than in the younger leagues?

Glenn Hoag: I think studying and playing is a great way to learn discipline and sacrifice. I think that through school athletes also can work on other aspects of their development and yes I believe it makes more mature athletes.
Athletes that are able to “multitasks” will be able to adapt faster to changes and also be prepared for the new challenges after volleyball.

7 - Something you learned in volleyball that you take to your attitude before everything:

Glenn Hoag: As a player, I learned that I needed others to succeed. When I was in a team that supported each other in hard times we performed well, but when I was with a team of to many egos it was a very difficult year.
As a coach I learned patience and leadership. I learned to be a better teacher.

8 - Something you learned outside volleyball that you bring into it:

Glenn Hoag: By traveling a lot across the world and meeting many people, I learned to have perspective. That although we worked hard to become elite athletes and coaches, we are still very lucky to do what we do. There are many people that will never have this chance. This is why I don’t like people that complain, I keep things in perspective always.

9 – Literature, Arts, Cinema, and volleyball: is there any fictional work that you know that puts us inside this sport? And what non fictional book is your “bible” in volleyball?

Glenn Hoag: I don’t know any fictional work for volleyball. I think some years ago French sport journalist Gilles Petit wrote a novel about the France national team, I think it was a work of fiction.

In non-fiction, I read many authors but mostly outside of volleyball. Recently my good friend Carlos Prata gave me a gift. It was the book “Legacy” by James Kerr. It is about the “All-blacks”, it is a great book fro any coaches or manager.

Most books on leadership and management are excellent and often bring good messages. The important thing is how I will use them with my reality.

10 - What changes in the game would make it better?

Glenn Hoag: I don’t know at this point if we could make any changes.

11 - Tell us a secret about your work that you think makes it singular:

Glenn Hoag: I believe in a global approach. It is by necessity because I always coach teams that don’t necessarily have the best athletes. So I usually analyse my potential and develop a growth strategy for the group. It is a lot of work but I like to see athletes progress and “fit in” to what we are trying to built. I don’t mind taking risks either and I am not scared of failure as I know that I am learning a lot from each experience with my athletes and teams.

12 - Can an athlete reach excellency without winning? Why?

Glenn Hoag: Yes, for sure. I was telling a friend the other day that only one team will win the World series in baseball…. that doesn’t make the other teams bad or losers. There are athletes that are so skilled and never win a title. The media need winners and losers to feed their stories, but for me after winning or losing the title, you go back and it becomes the past rapidly. This is life, so usually I move on to the next thing.

13-Which is the most important part of the game (give us a detailed view of each technical gesture and each part of the game) for you?

Glenn Hoag: I love volleyball when it is played globally. I like teams that play good block defence, great combination on attacks. I get bored when results are decided only on serves or errors. I like watching Brazil, Serbia, Argentina. I like to see athletes and teams that play with inspiration.
There is a trend right now towards serving as the number 1 skills to enhance. Usually you see teams adapt to these changes. I think we will see more opposites in reception to go 4 players reception formation. We are also training setters and attackers to set and hit “out of systems”. Basic skills to me remain important because although they are not statistically significant for scoring points they are an important part of helping my team reduce the opponent’s capacity to score. So I always try to keep these aspects in balance.

14 – What do you think about, and how do you manage, internal competition in the team?

Glenn Hoag: The international season and the club season are two things. From an international season perspective I see it very differently. The club season helps develop the athlete because the season is longer and you have time to work and modify or improve part of the athletes skills sets and game management ability. It is a more progressive environment to work with.

When the international season start, we usually assess the state of our athletes. We must assess injuries, fatigue, skill level, psychological level. Then we will remind them of our training culture with Team Canada. What are our guiding principles, training culture, roles and responsibility!!

With world league now it is harder to do training cycle and to get the athlete do have learning cycles. If we are in a world championship year or an Olympic year, I will try to design the training cycle to be ready for the main objectives. In Club, players play every week once or twice. In international competition you have to prepare the athlete to perform 3 matches in three days. Sometime the event is very hard such as world championship or world cup, so the volume and frequency of training for these events has to be high.

In order to perform consistently I believe that you need to establish a playing system and training philosophy so that the players when they come back from club have a common reference when they leave the clubs to get back to national team.

15 - Leave a message to athletes with the essence of what you think they should put in volleyball and can make them and the sport great:

Glenn Hoag: If you have great passion for the sport, then you have the number one quality. Become a student of the sport and don’t be scared of failing as you are learning. This is one of the most complex sports in the world, because of the demands of skills and team work and synchronisation of actions. You will need your teammates to grow and you will help them grow.

16 - The same to coaches:

Glenn Hoag: “Coaching is the art of making someone better”. Coaches are teachers. Not all our athletes will be great, but all our athletes love the game and want to be good at it. Our focus should be to make them the best that they can be.

For me winning is fun but “performing” is even more enjoyable. If my team plays well, I will enjoy the match no matter what the outcome. In order for me to make them play well I need to dedicate my energy at finding the “key” to their improvement.

17 - Finally, the same to directive staff:

Glenn Hoag: It is sometimes hard for outside people to understand why teams win or lose. Unless they have insight in the every day life of the players or the team, then it's hard to understand why outcome are good or bad. I think that regular communication with the coach is the best way to try to understand what is happening with the team, so we can find solutions to keep growing as a group. This is even more important when the team is struggling. Everyone on the staff as a crucial role and responsibility.

18 - Your Idol in Volleyball, and why:

Glenn Hoag: I don’t have any idol, but more people that have had a positive impact on the sport. Karch Kiraly, Bernardo Rezende, Stephane Antiga, Julio Velasco, Daniel Castellani, Giovanni Giuidetti, Doug Beal have had positive influence on the way I perceived the game, they helped me understand volleyball better.

They were “game changers” in the sport, they were all people that took on coaching after their playing career and modestly grew and impacted the sport in many ways, they shared their knowledge and that has helped the game grow.

19 - Your idol in sports, and why:

Glenn Hoag: John Wooden I would say was one of the person who had the most impact for me as a coach. He was a man of principle and accomplished great things. He was a “grounded” man that lived with important values. His words are simple but they are rich in learning.

John Wooden, 8 suggestions for succeeding::

Fear no opponent, Respect every opponent.

Remember, it’s the perfection of the smallest details that make big things happen.

Keep in mind that hustle makes up for many a mistake.
Be more interested in character than reputation.

Be quick, but don’t hurry.

Understand that the harder you work, the more luck you will have

Know that valid self-analysis is crucial for improvement.

Remember that there is no substitute for hard work and careful planning. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.

20 - You idol in life, and why:

Glenn Hoag: Many people.

My parents, normal people who always let me follow my passions.

My wife Donna who was so patient having to live with a coach and raise a family, I hope I can become as good a person as she is!!!

Charles Cardinal. He is my mentor since I started coaching in 1993. As he said himself: “ he opened a window and he let me discover what was to see and to remember. In other words he taught me where to look but not what to see.”

Monday, November 14, 2016

Jan De Brandt thinks volleyball

Jan José (wonderful, a portuguese name!:) De Brandt (born 20 January 1959) is a Belgian former volleyball player and current coach with vast curriculum, mainly in women international volleyball. As you will see throughout his answers to our inquiry, he is a passionate and fair man devoted to the universal outbreak of volleyball passion. So, here how Jan De Brandt thinks volleyball today:

1 - Volleyball is the 4 or 5th sport in the world with a wider base of fans, even greater than basketball. What should be made to communicate and show better this sport that so many millions pratice and love?

Jan De Brandt: I think that our sport should be broadcast more all around the world. All big competitions like Olympic Games, World Championships for seniors and youth should be seen by all people all over the world. Of course with the internet, Laola1.tv, there has already been made a big step but still more could be done. Young people like idols in their sport. Volleyball is not a sport known by the young people who won the Olympic Games or who are world champions. Stars like for example N' Gapeth, Bruninho, Zu, Boscovic are still unknown in the world!!!

2 - Concepts like NBA make the show and the sport themselves. Do you think volleyball, as a show, would benefit from concepts like those? If yes, how and where should it be built? World League? In a strong national league like NBA?

Jan De Brandt: I think our sport does not need to be changed a lot! Now, all the year through you have big competitions going on and a real volley fanatic can enjoy our sport almost every day. The most important thing is that people are well informed and that when they watch volleyball on television the comments are made with enthusiasm and knowledge! It is important that ex-volleyball players promote our sport all over the world. They can give interesting tips to all young volleyball players and make a big publicity for our sport!

4 - How do countries like Italy manage to stay at the top for so many years, how did countries like Poland, Germany or France reach the top and how can countries with tradition in volleyball like Portugal and Spain, among others, get there?

Jan De Brandt: Italy remains at the top because they have a very strong competition in the country. Volleyball, for men and women, is very professionally organized and a lot of good players from all around the world go to play volleyball in Italy. The coaches there acquired a very high knowledge of volleyball and most teams have a big staff with scouters, assistant-coaches, physical coaches, doctor and physiotherapist which are all specialists in their compartment!!! This helps a lot to study the game better and to prepare the athletes in the best possible way to perform. Italy took a lot from the United States and had great coaches who showed them the way, like, for example, Julio Velasco in men volleyball. So a strong competition in your country contributes a lot to the growth of volleyball. And if your country is organizing a lot of important events like World Championships, World League or Grand Prix, the popularity of volleyball is growing more and more. And then you have countries like Poland where all people love so much this sport. It is a joy to go and play volleyball there!!!

5 – When you travel with your team, to traineeships or competitions, do you defend that the team should be isolated in a bubble, with no contact with the “outside world”, or, on the contrary, you think that the team should promote the contact with local reality, including or not the adversaries, like we see, for example, before great matches in the ATP world tour? What are the advantages or disadvantages of each option (?)

Jan De Brandt: I personally think that we can not forget that we play volleyball for an audience!!! Of course we try to improve personally, and as a team as much as possible, but after a game we are in a certain way ambassadors for our sport. We have to make contact with our public, to give autographs and sign shirts after a game, to make interviews with the press and television. The words of a coach or a player after a game can be so important for all the people who like to see volleyball!!!! And the fans have to respect also the preparation of the athletes before the game, players are in a trance, doing the same rituals before the game to achieve their ideal performance state. Please do not disturb them then!!!

6 - Do you think that the sport taught in schools would benefit from specialized school subjects that could be an option in the pre-university and university years, like we see in some countries, like the subject “indoor volleyball” or “beach volleyball”, even if the graduation is different, in theory, like, v.g, Law or Architecture, and is it essential, like in the USA, that the sport in the university should be considered as a foreground to the main leagues, as athletes are much more mature than in the younger leagues?

Jan De Brandt: I can just talk about the volleyball school that they created in Belgium 20 years ago. It is a combination of study and every day volleyball training during 4 years from 14-18 years old. This was a big success after 10 years. We produced new generations of volleyball players and the last 10 years we, as a real small country, are not only present in all big youth competitions but we get even to obtain medals in big Championships. Our senior National Teams got stronger and stronger and belong now in the top 10 of the world. Amazing!!!

7 - Something you learned in volleyball that you take to your attitude before everything:

Jan De Brandt: oh yes...volleyball teaches you about life!!! First of all it is a TEAM-sport. Alone you can not arrive to anything, together everyone achieves more. So, you have to work together, to understand each other, to talk with each other, to perform together. This requires an attitude of discipline, motivation, respect and fun. Those are also the keys of success!!!

8 - Something you learned outside volleyball that you bring into it:

Jan De Brandt: so much...volleyball gave me the chance to SEE the world. Discover other countries, smell and feel other cultures, learn other languages, making friends all over the world....it made me rich in MIND and HEART. I like to transmit this message to all my players...OPEN your eyes and see the world!!!

9 – Literature, Arts, Cinema, and Volleyball: is there any fictional work that you know that puts us inside this sport? And what non fictional book is your “bible” in volleyball?

Jan De Brandt: I love music, books, film, ballet, other sports. I love everything that is beautiful around me. it makes me a HAPPY person and I try to show this happiness to my players every day. We can learn so much from other sports, science, music, and there is always something you can use in your sport. And you know why ? Because it is made by people. People that have PASSION and want to show their creation to the world...they give us big or small emotions...but they change something in us...I have no bible in volleyball. All the contacts with my players and friend-coaches make my bible!!!

10 - What changes in the game would make it better?

Jan De Brandt: more substitutions...better defense players in the back, stronger attackers on the net...

11 - Tell us a secret about your work that you think makes it singular:

Jan De Brandt: the biggest secret is to make your players believe that they are unique and that they can gain a big self-confidence! To make them better as a player and as a person!

12 - Can an athlete reach excellency without wining? Why?

Jan De Brandt: yes, you can reach excellence without winning anything! In sports it is all about the will to perform the best you can . To train as hard as you can and to try to improve every day! Maybe that is not enough for winning but it gives you so much joy and satisfaction. Not everybody can stand on the podium! It should be no fun to compete only with 3 teams.

13-Which is the most important part of the game (give us a detailed view of each technical gesture and each part of the game) for you?

Jan De Brandt: All parts of the game are of the same importance!!! Which pleases me a lot is the evolution in men volleyball. All top players became setters. The liberos are artists with the ball and start becoming the second setters in the team, the outside hitters even have unpredictable sets in their hands and also the middle players can set a perfect high ball. This is the difference between an average team and a TOPteam!!!

14 – What do you think about, and how do you manage, internal competition in the team?

Jan De Brandt: players need competition...otherwise they stop growing! We as coaches have to bring them out of their comfort zone. I create new and uncomfortable situations for the players. Then they will learn more and grow!!!

15 - Leave a message to athletes with the essence of what you think they should put in volleyball and can make them and the sport great:

Jan De Brandt: PASSION...show emotion and passion in all that you do...

16 - The same to coaches:

Jan De Brandt: PASSION

Vladimir Kondra

17 - Finally, the same to directive staff:

Jan De Brandt: PASSION

18 - Your Idol in Volleyball, and why:

Jan De Brandt: Kondra...a Russian player whom I loved to see playing and Kim Ho Chul, a Korean setter!!!

Kim Ho Chul

19 - Your idol in sports, and why:

Jan De Brandt: Eddy Merckx...simply because he was the BEST!!!!

Eddy Merckx

20 - You idol in life, and why:

Jan De Brandt: My brother Herman..he showed me the way!!!!

Thank you for your answers. Let's make volleyball better. This in an
independent inquiry, both in questions and in answers.

TV – Think Volleyball (from volleyballers to volleyballers) – PG-M
Pedro Guilherme-Moreira - English revision by Clara Amorim

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Hugo Silva thinks Volleyball

TV – 20 questions Think Volleyball Inquiry, version 1c, Hugo Silva

Hugo Silva is the young manager of the Portuguese national volleyball team, that had a surprising behavior at the recent European qualification and made it to the final in Group 2 of the World League. Hugo has been creating and managing volleyball teams for quite some years, now. Straightforward and courageous, Hugo gives us a relevant view and proposes real solutions to an anemic school and university sport . Hugo also defends that actual madness, as in passion with few boundaries, is essential to reach the top. His idol in sports is a player he trained, which is rare, the olympic and international Portuguese setter Miguel Maia. Let's hear Hugo Silva thinking volleyball.

1 - Volleyball is the 4 or 5th sport in the world with a wider base of fans, even greater than basketball. What should be made to communicate and show better this sport that so many millions pratice and love?

Hugo Silva: Volleyball, more than any sport, is in every corner of the world, because we are talking of the International Federation (FIVB) with more associates, about 300 countries playing federated volleyball and I doubt that in any other sport all the continents are so well represented like in volleyball. Evidently, in these times, the social media are the greatest vehicle to promote any sport, and show how beautiful this sport is. The bet in social media is fundamental, but also in television broadcasts and in open channel, to reach every single home. And not to be the greatest sport, but the best.

2 - Concepts like NBA make the show and the sport themselves. Do you think volleyball, as a show, would benefit from concepts like those? If yes, how and where should it be built? World League? In a strong national league like NBA?

Hugo Silva: Volleyball is a sport that you love or hate. Obviously, having a show associated to the sport would sell much more, but I'm a conservative in this matter: I prefer not to see my sport being put in the background by a musical concert of any artist. NBA needs the show because, in some times of the play, it's dull. Volleyball fixes the public attention in each second of the game. Who seeks volleyball seeks a sport show, not musical or artistic.

3 – Means and goals, strategy and principles. Are there any limits in strategy to the victory? For example, do you admit pressure inside the court, with your players bullying players from the opposite team? What are the limits? And when you want to hire a certain player, should there be a regulation on the way athletes are contacted and by whom?

Hugo Silva: Like everything in life, balance is the secret to highest level competition. At this level, everyone must be prepared for any kind of pressure, internal or external. I, myself, seek to create that pressure in the adversary with words or behavior, always respecting the boundaries, the persons and the teams, even knowing that, sometimes, the opponent can interpret our behaviors as offensive. This game is for an elite, and the focus must be totally in the game, and athletes are trained, day in and day out, to abstract themselves from the external factors that may diminish their performance.

4 - How do countries like Italy manage to stay at the top for so many years, how did countries like Poland, Germany or France reach the top and how can countries with tradition in volleyball like Portugal and Spain, among others, get there?

Hugo Silva: More than tradition, reaching the top varies according to sport policy of each country. Unfortunately, it depends on the money invested and the incentives given by private and public companies. First, and almost as a rule, only developed countries can have the sport as a pillar of the growth of values in the society. No wonder that the biggest economic powers are the biggest sports powers. Who wins more olympic medals? The same. USA, Russia, China, UK, Germany, etc.

So, in Portugal there should be fiscal incentives to companies that support sport, and the country should look to the reference athletes as heroes and mirrors of themselves, they should feel proud of them and respect their effort.

6 - Do you think that the sport taught in schools would benefit from specialized school subjects that could be an option in the pre-university and university years, like we see in some countries, like the subject “indoor volleyball” or “beach volleyball”, even if the graduation is different, in theory, like, v.g, Law or Architecture, and is it essential, like in the USA, that the sport in the university should be considered as a foreground to the main leagues, as athletes are much more mature than in the younger leagues?

Hugo Silva: Once more we are talking about sports policy. The current university sport in Portugal is going out, drink and date, and a bunch of institutions that award mere intellectuals. In any university do we talk about sport as reference to the institution, not even Coimbra, with its famous academic rules! I have no doubt that, if it were not for clubs, that in Portugal do what universities should do, many sports would end. Salazar loved soccer. Our universities are the soccer teams of Benfica, Porto and Sporting and sports where these teams don't bet can't grow. This is our country in 2016.

Another nonsense is having school sports where the state spend millions and we don't see any growth in sports and where there is no intervention of sports federation, that are never heard.

We should also talk about sport in schools, yes. After the 9th grade there should be specialization, but each sport should be teached by a specialist, and not an alpinist specialist teaching volleyball. Initially , the physical repertory of the students should be varied and give access to multiple opportunities, able to develop physical abilities. After this, the specialization should be considered. I don't doubt that the sports in schools, in these phase of specialization, would be much better with sports federations, that know how to run the money they spent developing athletes

7 - Something you learned in volleyball that you take to your attitude before everything:

Hugo Silva: My biggest learning in Volleyball is that nothing is achieved without work and that a strong team is worth more than a set of star players with big egos worried, mainly, about themselves.

8 - Something you learned outside volleyball that you bring into it:

Hugo Silva: Loyalty and straightforwardness. If there is something that I'm proud of is that I never stop saying what I think, even if I know I can hurt my interlocutor.

9 – Literature, Arts, Cinema, and volleyball: is there any fictional work that you know that puts us inside this sport? And what non fictional book is your “bible” in volleyball?

Hugo Silva: I'm not a literate or cinephile par excellence, but I accept the challenge : I like the “Mission Impossible” films, because I love challenges and the more diffcult they are, the more I like them and motivate myself and those that I teach and train. As for my “bible”, it's not a volleyball book: “The Present”, Spencer Johnson. Volleyball is a hard sport with many variables to the victory, but, in my opinion, we coaches make it even harder, because we don't plan our volleyball way, as well as the way we see ourselves in it, but we tend to copy what a coach beside us does or that we saw in the internet.

10 - What changes in the game would make it better?

Hugo Silva: I wouldn't change a thing. It's a perfect sport :)

Now, seriously: I would change the qualification rules to the Olympics. Olympics give access to teams from all continents, and I would change it to the real 14 best teams, that usually can't qualify.

11 - Tell us a secret about your work that you think makes it singular:

Hugo Silva: My secret us is to show I'm mad about volleyball, and that can been seen in my behaviors on a day to day basis.

12 - Can an athlete reach excellency without wining? Why?

Hugo Silva: I never heard of anyone winning wars without winning battles. To win or to do everything to win is what make us stronger and better. I would say that victory is the feed of a top athlete, more than any money he can earn.

13 – Which is the most important part of the game (give us a detailed view of each technical gesture and each part of the game) for you?

Hugo Silva: For me, the most important technical gesture is the block. With it I stop the opponent weapon that is more difficult to fight: the attack. As to the description of the block, here's a complex matter. There is a phase of reading the kind of ball we are going to receive, a cross and quick call and a jump in the right timing, where the way the player puts arms and hands has a decisive role in the block or, at least, damping of the ball.

14 – What do you think about, and how do you manage, internal competition in the team?

Hugo Silva: a strong team begins with a good 7-base and quality solutions in the bench that allow the team to resolve what the colleague temporarily didn’t do. For example, the Portuguese national team lacks this aspect, and that tends to make our teams more fragile. You can't make a good team without internal competition: healthy and correct internal competition, of course.

15 – Leave a message to athletes with the essence of what you think they should put in volleyball and can make them and the sport great:

Hugo Silva: My message is fit for everything in life: if you want to have success in a certain field of action, you have to absolutely prioritize that specific field over any other. If you want to have success in volleyball, you have to absolutely prioritize volleyball over anything else, and, in a certain way, as said above, have a certain dose of madness in what we do.

16 – The same to coaches:

Hugo Silva: To coaches, the message is the same. Maybe I get some criticism for what I'm about to say, but I always say what I think: in my opinion, although we have good coaches in Portugal, none of them has conditions to remain at the top, because none of them puts volleyball on the top of his or her priorities.

17 – Finally, the same to directive staff:

Hugo Silva: We have to pay tribute to the efforts and dedication of directive staff, but I also say that, if a certain director is just acting by pure obligation, then he or she should pass the responsibilities to newer elements that bring new ideas and energy to work.

18 - Your Idol in Volleyball, and why:

Hugo Silva: In my time, I had an adoration for Joel Despaigne, but later, and after working with him and having the privilege of being his coach, Miguel Maia is, for me, the best player, ever, in Portuguese volleyball, and maybe one of the 10 best of the 20th century. One word for his person and for his qualities as player: EXTRAORDINARY!

19 - Your idol in sports, and why:

Hugo Silva: In sport, it had to be someone from volleyball. MIGUEL MAIA, again. As his coach, it was a pleasure seeing what he could do with a volley ball in every training session. Moreover, not only with a volley ball. Miguel was good at every sport, a fated and true ace. His technique, unique, doesn't come in the books and those who try to imitate him, can't. He is totally unpredictable and his speed of thought and answer are chilling! I think we won't have another in the days to come.

20 - You idol in life, and why:

Hugo Silva: My parents. If not for them, I wouldn’t have the opportunity of enjoying the good things that life gives us.

PORTUGUÊS: Se desejar ler a entrevista em português, porque favor clique AQUI

Thank you for your answers. Let's make volleyball better. This in an independent inquiry, both in questions and in answers.
TV – Think Volleyball (from volleyballers to volleyballers) – PG-M Pedro Guilherme-Moreira – Revision by Clara Amorim

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Hugh McCutcheon thinks volleyball

Saturday, January 7, 2017

Carlos Prata thinks volleyball

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Glenn Hoag thinks volleyball

Monday, November 14, 2016

Jan De Brandt thinks volleyball

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Hugo Silva thinks Volleyball

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