THE ITALIAN VOLLEYBALL WINS AGAIN
.
In the history of sport, any discipline will hardly succeed in reaching such a high number of victories concentrated in a period it may even seem reductive to call a golden period. Nineteen successes in Europe and all over the world in 11 years are the extraordinary prize record the Italian volley team will leave to posterity. The very last success comes from Argentina, where Italy won its seventh World League, an event that takes place every two years alternatively with the world championships and that gathers the best volleyball teams.
In a period of a little more than ten years the Italian team made us get used to victories: a constant verification for the most prepared and successful team of the world. The Olympic Games are the only target the Italians still have to achieve. But given the extraordinary experience and the new champions the Italians have been able to provide until now, one could bet that the next year in Sidney the Italian team will have an important chance to reach this goal, too.
The exceptionality of the national team is the fact that it has always managed to regenerate itself soon after the achievement of important goals. One has to go back to 1989, when Julio Velasco led a young but talented team to the conquest of the European title. Since then, the Italian team has won a number of World Leagues, world titles and other European titles. When the Argentinian coach decided to leave, thinking the winning cycle was over, he left a heavy heritage to his successors: 7 years of successes all over the world with only one failure (as already said) i.e. the Olympic Games.
When Velasco, who had become the symbol of the successful man, left, the Italian management chose another foreign trainer to replace him: Brazilian Bebeto, who had already been a coach in Italy and mainly the trainer of the Brazilian team. Thanks to him, the Italian team won another World League in 1997 and above all gained an extraordinary world title last year, with only one player left of the old team led by Velasco, that is, the team leader Gardini. For Bebeto, like his predecessor and colleague, the world title represented the last exploit in a very short period when compared to the Argentinian charismatic trainer (only 2 years). After consuming the motivations and energies required for winning the world title, also defeating the team of his country in the semifinals,  Bebeto decided to leave in the most favourable moment for himself but not for his successor.
This time the double bet, a courageous leap in the dark, has involved a former Italian player of Velasco's team who has become a trainer. Andrea Anastasi, who was among the players chosen by the Argentinian coach when he trained the Italian team in his first years, has been able to confirm the vitality of the national team. Thanks to him, the Italian volley team in Argentina demonstrated it has a strong school that is able to continuously bring out new champions, no matter how the various elements are made to alternate. Until now, the incentive of competitiveness has led the Italian volley to reach the top; not a dangerous psychological boomerang but rather a decisive stirring situation that has never taken supporters to miss the many successes won by their predecessors. Given this assumption, the trainer's skill should not be underevaluated: indeed, if on one hand he can choose from a large breeding ground, on the other he has also the great responsibility of limiting this great potential with painful exclusions. The current champions keep winning and therefore they are once again the team to beat the next year in Sidney. The other countries can only hope, as they have been doing in the last few years, that this surprising team give up churning out new wonders.
 

 Leadership Medica^® 
  Mensile di scienza  medica e attualita` 
 Copyright 1997© All Rights Reserved