A republic founded on volleyball

In a week when Italian volleyball is passing the baton – from the women’s national team’s silver medal in Istanbul to Naples for the men’s European Championship opener in Piazza del Plebiscito – there is one lesson that must never be forgotten: luck is part of the game, but the game itself – reaching 25 points and doing so in three sets before your opponent – is never a matter of luck. What both the men’s and women’s teams have achieved in volleyball over the last five years – both world champions – is unrivalled, and neither a silver that could have been gold, nor any result from the men’s national team (in pursuit of a medal) can diminish the overwhelming global dominance that Italy holds in this sport. It is a sport that boasts the most competitive leagues and produces so many coaches that there are more than enough for a single nation.

In fact, there were nine Italian coaches at the Women’s European Championship (ten if you include Velasco) and five at the men’s. And the number is lower only because the Super League has a rule stating that you cannot coach both a national team and a Serie A club without paying a penalty. Having said that, to claim that you cannot always win, that the women’s silver medal is worth its weight in gold (even Antropova had to stress that not a chance – a silver is just a silver) and that we are all deeply proud of the girls, is to resort to such cloying platitudes that you can only accept them if you have never really had the chance to succeed. Not when you dominate your opponent for two and a half sets and then let them cross the finish line. Not when that opponent, Turkey, is playing at home and the fans are booing you from the very first minute; not when they’re coached by an Italian whose sole aim is to secure a place on the bench of his national team – and to do so, he must win against Turkey (having already done so against Serbia) – and who will do everything in his power to ensure this happens again and again. Given that the World Championships are scheduled for next summer in Canada—an absurdity imposed by the FIVB, which has decreed that such an important competition should be held every two years—it is hardly an offence to criticise how Ekaterina Antropova was managed during this European Championship. In a few days’ time she will return to Istanbul to start the season with Eczacibasi, but in her usual role as opposite, and it remains to be seen whether, in a year’s time, she will still be willing to play out of position. It would be a mistake to take that for granted.

If, after two years of spectacular rotation, Velasco decides he wants to utilise both her and Egonu at the same time (a view one can certainly share), then he must stick to it wholeheartedly and not backtrack, only to change his mind again when the fourth outside hitter gets injured. Because we won last year’s World Championship with Nervini in position 4, and she seemed to be in brilliant form. A fair question: if we’d beaten Turkey 3–0, would we be making the same arguments? No, we wouldn’t. Because clearly, to beat Turkey 3–0, we needed to keep Nervini on the bench and Antropova on the court. But if you lose 3–2, you have to go in front of the microphones and explain why you didn’t try other options. The coach cannot contradict himself; rather, he must provide his own rationale. Why, for example, has there been constant rotation in position four? Over three years, alongside Sylla, the team has fielded three different spikers. The Olympic Games were won with Bosetti, the World Championship with Nervini, and now Antropova has been introduced. Year after year, we’ve been losing balance and quality in our reception. And if Miriam Sylla goes up to collect the award for best spiker and can’t even twitch a muscle in her face, you’re not doing her justice by telling her she should be proud of herself: forgive my frankness, but she knows that perfectly well all by herself. Today, these players would follow Julio Velasco to the ends of the earth. No coach had ever taken them so far: to winning Olympic Games and World Championships, to appearing on the covers of glossy magazines, to being invited everywhere. So they all trust Velasco blindly. Antropova first and foremost, who, of all the athletes, shows an extraordinary willingness and spirit of sacrifice. But be careful not to push it too far.

Now it is the turn of Fefè De Giorgi’s men’s national team, which, following its spectacular (albeit rain-hampered) 3–0 victory over Sweden in front of President Mattarella, will tour Italy whilst assessing Alessandro Michieletto’s fitness on a day-to-day basis. The World Championship MVP – not just any player – has been given the all-clear to return to the court, but he has been sidelined for seven months. So the question is: how competitive are we under these circumstances? The good news, however, is that Daniele Lavia, who a year ago was undergoing a very delicate recovery from a hand injury that threatened to jeopardise his career, is back in the starting line-up. So too are captain Simone Giannelli and opposite Juri Romanò. Poland, France, Bulgaria and Slovenia are eager to unseat Italy. The group stage in Modena (12–17 September), the round of 16 and quarter-finals in Turin (20th, 21st and 23rd) and the semi-finals and finals in Milan (25th and 26th at the Assago Forum) will provide the answer. Italy is a republic founded on volleyball, provided that everyone knows how to handle the game with care.