Coaches hail EuroAsia Cooperation programme as incredible opportunity as sessions conclude in Bangkok

The historic EuroAsia Coaches Cooperation Project ended earlier this week in Bangkok, Thailand, with the last four sessions run by experts appointed by the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC).

AVC expert GE Sridharan of India and assistant Mahmoud Afshardoust of Iran delivered a number of classes where they focussed, among other things, on the coaches’ role and ethic in modern Volleyball. Talent identification plays a key role in growing the next generation of elite Volleyball players – and the two shared their experience as to how Asian coaches might identify talent in extremely large groups (sometimes up to 500+ in a single try-out) of young or senior players to create a team. Mr Sridharan and Mr Afshardoust recalled examples on what development at the youth level is used in Asia to build good future players.

Dr R Natarajan, another AVC expert, joined offsite on Zoom for a hybrid presentation on injury prevention through yoga. He presented yoga categories and which movements apply to releasing the loads from Volleyball and identified which movements in Volleyball apply the most strain and imbalance on the body. Dr Natarajan provided information on which yoga poses/exercises and stretches improve imbalanced conditions or stressed muscles. He also presented which methods support the main muscles used by Volleyball players.

Next to the above mentioned theoretical classes, practical sessions covered skill development and team training in Volleyball. Coaches were split into groups and assigned the task to draft some exercise concepts for these topics.

The final theoretical sessions covered Volleyball periodization, analysis in Volleyball (through Data Volley use) and how that translates into technique evaluation and tactical method planning. Moreover, a Volleyball physiology session accounted for an overview on which parts in the body consume and expend the most energy from Volleyball activity.

All coaches expressed their extreme gratitude towards CEV and AVC for organising and conducting this historic programme, despite the difficulties and many last-minute adjustments caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Coaches and experts were able to say goodbye properly, and everyone departed on March 29 from Bangkok back to their home countries.

Nikola Dimitrov of Bulgaria: “I was very inspired and also humbled, and I cannot wait to get back home to work on my coaching skills!”

Mahsa Arasteh (Iran): “It was a great opportunity to meet everyone onsite. I hope to see everyone in best positions and high levels in the future. Now we are motivated enough to make some changes in our Volleyball future. Keep working hard and enjoy the journey!”