Lorenzetti thinks Volleyball

Angelo Lorenzetti is one of the best volleyball coaches in the world. Period. He already trained the young Italy national teams and several world top clubs. The last one, Modena, he left as a champion of one of the best leagues in the world, probably the best: the Italian A1 Superlega. Now he is the head coach of Trentino, but our contact with him opened the door to kindness associated to competence. So, kindness is possible at high level. Kindness and victory, but also kindness and defeat. Of course, Angelo is all volleyball, but what grows in us after finishing this interview and contacting with him is the last thing he briefly talks about. His sister Manuela, that leads us to Fano, his hometown, to his Adriatic sea and to poetry. Manuela is Angelo's eternal inspiration before and after she left this world, in 2013. When she became sick and the world didn't know yet, Angelo dedicated to her, in a public conference, the poem "Ci vuole in fiore". The flower was a daisy. A petal of that daisy represented the fidelity between brother and sister. So, talking about volleyball, we start with the best: a profound and kind champion: Angelo Lorenzetti.

TV – 20 questions Think Volleyball Inquiry, version 1

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?

Lorenzetti: I am a coach and I believe so much that each role has its specific skills. Therefore, I think that It would be better to pass this answer to volleyball managers. For my part, I know that my sport needs more and more fans. To achieve this, I try to be close to volleyball fans when they give me some requests and make free the access in my gym. About other things, I'll think of them when I'll be a volleyball manager, ahah!

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?

Lorenzetti: My dream is to see the birth of an European volleyball league like NBA. It’s my humble opinion that the interests, the expectations and the investments of the clubs are different from the ones of the National and International Federations, and sometimes they are even antagonistic. The clubs need their own league to enhance their investments.

3 - An athlete in NBA has little or no privacy, so that fans can follow him and collect the myths that take them to the courts. Do you think top athletes in volleyball should get the same treatment, so that volleyball could be better communicated to the masses?

Lorenzetti: Reaching for a vision means to do actions that also involve some costs. If we want the world being into volleyball, we have to accept the volleyball being into the world.

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?

Lorenzetti: It's not easy to answer. I think the two important things are: find a lot of people with courage to invest in volleyball and a good technical school.

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?

Lorenzetti: This is another of my dreams. I hope that volleyball will decide, one day, to explore the university world. I think that in Italy, with a different style from the USA, it's also possible to link these worlds.

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”?

Lorenzetti: With the sport in the school, sport always earns

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

Lorenzetti: Volleyball practice teaches ourselves to be empathic. We have to pass the ball to our team-mate because this is our rule. Therefore, our game teaches us to give and to accept the other person.

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

Lorenzetti: There is a quote that I like very much: "Who asks, commands." So, in life someone taught me this, and I try to take it with me to the gym!

9 - Literature 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?

Lorenzetti: In Italy, there are some famous ex-players like, Zorzi and Gravina, that are making very good shows where the people can listen and see about life & sport. I like reading a lot and there isn't just one book that drives my activity, but from each book I try to take out something useful for my life and for my gym

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

Lorenzetti: All those that help to eliminate the dead times that I think might bore your audience in the gym and in front of the television and which prevent the players to do what they do best: play!


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

Lorenzetti: It's not a secret but a need. I studied as accountant and not as a gymn teacher. Therefore I have to study a lot to understand my sport and to plan my job in the best way.


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

Lorenzetti: In volleyball the game is divided in two phases: sideout and break point. My opinion is that sideout is the first part where my team have to be strong. Therefore, at the beginning of the season my priority in the gym is to improve this phase, specially in order to the pass and the feeling between the setter and the hitters.


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

Lorenzetti: In volleyball the game is divided in two phases: sideout and break point. My opinion is that sideout is the first part where my team have to be strong. Therefore, at the beginning of the season my priority in the gym is to improve this phase, specially in order to the pass and the feeling between the setter and the hitters.

14 - Can a game be won just in defense or attack, like tennis?

Lorenzetti: Of course. Maybe in volleyball these phases are put on the contrary, comparing to tennis. In fact, in our sport the serve side obtains less point than who receive. In tennis, it happens just the opposite.

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:

Lorenzetti: We need to work hard to improve our capacity, but, at the same time, we play against an opponent that, like us, is not perfect. So, our goal is to find a way to beat them, to explore the weak points. Volleyball is a game. We always need to amuse ourselves, and amusing ourselves we reach that point where we use all our potential. Without amusement volleyball is not a game, but work.

16 - The same to coaches:
Lorenzetti: A coach is at the service of his players. What matters are their needs and their expectations. Our job is to understand them and work to meet them.

17 - Finally, the same to directive staff:

Lorenzetti: To be a strong team, it's important to know that the roles have the same name in all the teams, but in every team each role has its specificity, because it comes in contact with different relationships. You have to make it clear to all of the specific staff members that the potential of each role is one of the most important activities of the head coach. Finally, what I said in the previous answer is valid for the whole staff: our job is to understand the need of the players and work to meet them.

 

18 - Your Idol in Volleyball, and why:

Lorenzetti: My idol is Julio Velasco. He taught me a working method and a style. He taught me to be responsible of my fate thinking what I can do by what I have and not thinking what I would make with what I don't have.

19 - Your idol in sports, and why:

Lorenzetti: Ancelotti and Bielsa are two coaches that I admire very much, but I don't think of them like idols, because I don't know them directly.

20 - You idol in life, and why: 

Lorenzetti: My sister has been and will be my idol forever. She was my teacher of kindness and...I  still have a lot to study and learn from her lessons.

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