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▲ Cesar Korea women’s volleyball team coach… 2022 VNL Tournament © International Volleyball Federation |
The women’s volleyball team finished last in the ‘2022 Volleyball Nations League (VNL)’ with 12 losses. Such a result was expected to some extent before the competition.
The tall trio including Kim Yeon-kyung (34·192 cm), the core of the golden generation who advanced to the Olympics three times in a row and made the legend of the semifinals of the two Olympics, Hyo-jin Yang (33·190 cm), and Kim Su-ji (35·188 cm), all retired from the national team together. did.
The absence of Kim Yeon-kyung, the world’s best striker, is a huge loss, and 9 out of 12 Tokyo Olympic members were missed for various reasons this VNL. Instead, as a large number of young players were selected, a ‘forced generational change’ was made to a completely new team. Injured players also emerged. It was unreasonable to expect good grades.
Nevertheless, the national team coach and players posted on SNS on the 4th, “It was not easy at all and it was very difficult, but we are continuing to work hard, trust and trust each other and overcome difficulties.” He showed a strong will.
Although the national team lost the game, the reaction of the fans on women’s volleyball fan sites was quite surprising and surprising. Fans are putting their full trust in the coach of the lost national team, Cesar, while they are pouring criticism on the domestic coaches.
Why is this happening? It seems that it is not simply because of unconditional support or fantasies about foreign directors. It is analyzed that several reasons acted in combination.
Cesar, rising expectations at the last minute.. Volleyball fans, distrust of domestic coaches, growing ‘surprising’
First of all, as the national team declared a major generational change, it is necessary to build an advanced volleyball system step by step, and for this, a consensus can be drawn on the direction that a foreign coach is needed. The success story of coach Lavarini, who made the myth of the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics, is also a positive nutrient. Cesar and the coaching staff also seem to be of the prevailing opinion that it is necessary to wait and wait because they are part of the world’s strongest club team.
Cesar’s progress toward the second half of the VNL tournament was also well received by fans. In particular, in the case of the center team, the possibility of rapid growth and successful generation change has increased, and the use of fast and moving attacks by the center team has increased rapidly. introduced a new aspect. In the meantime, he performed well by winning consecutive sets against powerful Italians and China.
This is a signal that can grow with various attack options and advanced performance in the future. If the utilization and completeness of the pipe attack (center-back time difference attack), which are the main characteristics of a volleyball powerhouse, can be improved through the following training, expectations for the Cesar can be increased. Because that’s advanced volleyball, and it’s the world volleyball trend.
There is another important reason. The point is that there is widespread distrust and dissatisfaction with domestic directors. In fact, among volleyball experts and fans who have watched volleyball for a long time, distrust and dissatisfaction have been continuously accumulating about ‘the coaching style and play method of domestic coaches’.
Such perceptions seem to be getting stronger in the course of this VNL tournament. Some fans criticize, saying, “The V-League does not introduce an Asian quota for players, but it is more urgent to introduce a quota system for foreign coaches.”
They believe that the competitiveness of the players in international competitions has significantly decreased as the domestic coaches insist on an old-fashioned method that is far from the trend of world volleyball. In addition, he points out that they are far behind in terms of discovering and nurturing players as they only use the main players.
In particular, the coaches of the V-League professional teams emphasized only accurate receiving uniformly, and poured more oil on it as they pursued ‘volleyball’ that relied on the attack power of one foreign player. Domestic players’ attack power and technique have been leveled downward, and their movements and play patterns have also become slower compared to volleyball powerhouses. In addition, he lacked the ability to use various attack options such as center fast attack, moving attack, and pipe attack, which have emerged as a key weapon in world volleyball.
The gap between the players’ ‘league-international competition’ is too big… Korea is the only country in the world
This was directly related to the quality level of the domestic professional league, the V-League. This is because the players of the Korean national team have a marked difference in performance in the V-League and in international competitions. As such, the V-League and the national team are different in many ways, such as play style. There are so many absurd things that players have to adapt from the beginning every time. The accreditation tools used are also different.
As a result, the performance of the Korean national team players in the first VNL after the end of the V-League every year is significantly lower than that of other countries. It is no exaggeration to say that Korea is the only country in the world that plays a little volleyball in the world where players have such a big difference in performance between the league and the national team. It is only in the summer and autumn international competitions, when the national team training period is accumulated, that it enters a stable state.
There is another problem. No matter how advanced the players’ volleyball style is in the national team, when they return to the V-League, they switch back to volleyball and slow volleyball. Thus, the ‘Vicious cycle of Doro Amitabha’ is repeated.
It is absurd in the first place to talk about a decline in international competitiveness while hiding these essential problems. In fact, the competitiveness of the Korean national team in international competitions is an extension of the skills that players have honed in the domestic V-League and a mirror that shows the level of the league.
In the meantime, the level of the V-League was hidden in international competitions because the world’s best striker who played in overseas leagues was holding on to the Korean national team. Then, this time on VNL, it was revealed through ‘The National Team Without Kim Yeon-kyung’. This is not to say that we ignore the V-League. That is a stark reality, and it means that the V-League manager and the front desk cannot deny that the national team is responsible for the slump.
‘National team without Kim Yeon-kyung’ crashed… A ‘mirror’ that revealed the bare face of foreigners in the V-League
Currently, volleyball powerhouses are far ahead of Korea in terms of height, attack power and speed, and diversity of attack routes. He is strong and demanding even to serve. Even the ‘accurate receive’ emphasized by domestic coaches has already become difficult in international competitions. Domestic players have no choice but to be helpless.
Therefore, it is necessary to complete ‘speed volleyball based on total volleyball’, which increases the scoring power through various attack options even in situations where the receiving is somewhat unstable or in a counter-attacking opportunity situation. However, none of the teams in the domestic V-League play like that. If you suddenly try to do an attack option in an international competition that you haven’t done in the league, there’s no way it’s going to work out, and you have no choice but to get frustrated with the fast play of strong teams. It’s not something that can be resolved in a flash through the training of the national team for just 20 days.
It’s not that the V-League didn’t have a voice of magnetism and attempts to change. However, only Korean Air, which recruited a foreign coach, achieved great success by winning the combined championship for two consecutive years. Most of the teams led by domestic managers excitedly declared total volleyball and speed volleyball, but eventually went back and forth and returned to the volleyball frame. It’s because they still believe that volleyball is a ‘safe bread’ if they want to score in the V-League.
Nevertheless, during this VNL tournament, some domestic coaches sent comments that seemed to criticize Cesar and the players’ play through an ‘anonymous interview’ with the media. The reaction of volleyball fans who saw this was still cold.
Big responsibility for the national team crash ‘Domestic coaches’…
This is because the domestic coaches, who have greater responsibility than anyone else, have no reflection, pretending to be a third party, pretending to be a critic, and criticizing the national team anonymously. Fans are cynical at such domestic coaches, saying they are ‘shameless, cowardly, and sloppy’.
Some criticize it, saying, “The players of the Korean national team lack basic skills.” This is spitting in the face of a domestic director. This is because the domestic directors are the ones who taught and planted the basics.
Yet, it is rare to see anyone worried about how to help the national team for the World Championship, which has fallen on their feet right away. If even the world championships are sluggish, participation in the 2024 Paris Olympics could end as is. It will also pour cold water on the success of the V-League that immediately follows. Beyond the Volleyball Association and the Korea Volleyball Federation (KOVO), it is the work of the entire volleyball world, and everyone is responsible.
If participation in the Paris Olympics is canceled, it is highly likely that women’s volleyball will follow the path of men’s volleyball and men’s basketball, which also fell in popularity with the fall of international competitions. Who will applaud that a domestic manager takes the national team manager’s position after the defeat? It’s just ‘acorns in dog food’. Even worse, it’s a video where only the coach of the national team keeps changing.
