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Post by sIsam on Jan 10, 2004 14:00:02 GMT -5
A friend in Russia has read an interview with Karpol after the Baku Tournament and here is what he said:
" i read karpol interview to sport-express - he told that hadn't aim to win touranment in baku - it was only training for the team. he told that chukanova very unstable and go to ask gratchova to return and maybe add vasya too"
In addition, one of the turkish websites wrote a letter to Uralochka about Chackova and got a response which says they expect her to join the russian team soon unless sthg develops in the meantime.
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Post by USAFAN on Jan 10, 2004 14:27:56 GMT -5
That is a bunch of crap. Being that it was an Olympic qualifying event, and since Russia hasn't qualified, I'm sure his goal was to win the tournament. They better get their act together and hopefully Vassislevskya or Gratcheva comes back because setting has really gone array, and I don't think Russia can win gold with their current setter. Chachkova coming back would be quite a boost to the squad. Her team is currently first place in the Italian League.
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Post by sIsam on Jan 10, 2004 15:42:38 GMT -5
I agree the part about not aiming to win this being crap.
They really need one of their former setters back at least until Sheshenina matures enough. Their biggest problem seems to be in receiving though and addition of Chackova would certainly help with receiving (in addition to attack of course).
IMO, recent results of the RUssian team show that Karpol era in Russian volleyball is nearing an end. There are not that many young players coming from the youth ranks who are candidates to be like artamonova or chachkova and the current roster constantly battles with injuries. We will see how they cope though I can't see them NOT qualifying in Japan though I would LOVE to see them being passed for a spot there in favor of Poland or Turkey (very very unlikely).
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Post by USAFAN on Jan 10, 2004 17:30:38 GMT -5
Wouldn't that be something if Russia didn't get invited and they were kept out of the Olympics? What's interesting to me was that right after 2000 when all of the Cuban girls left, it looked like Russia was just going to dominate the game. With Godina, Artamanova, Chachkova, Gratcheva, Vassilevskya, and Titchenko, they had a great lineup. Chachkova left, then Vassilevskya, then Godina, and Gratcheva. Gamova really was a weapon when she first came out, but I think teams have gotten over the fear factor of her stature and have become more comfortable playing her and defending against her. Russia still has the firepower, its just the ever present question of if their backrow can dig and pass up to international level par.
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Post by sIsam on Jan 11, 2004 1:43:15 GMT -5
Well I would love to see that at this point. They certainly do not deserve to be their with their current teams and performance of the past year or so.
Btw I'm hearing that Turkey and Poland are lobbying pretty heavily with the FIVB for entry to the tournament in Japan. Rus and Ita are going for sure and they are trying to get the no of teams going increased. (I bet ita and rus would love this!) though I am not sure how likely this is....
Lack of success of Russian team recently tells me that their playing style is getting out of date. As the rest of the teams get faster, stronger and more athletic they can defend better against the power hitters of russia. In addition , as the game of vb rises to another level i think training methods of Karpol (he does not do any kind of weight / conditioning training for example) are becoming out of date and insufficient, thus the oft injuries to the team.
Gamova has never had the dominance that Chachkova, Smirnova or Artamonova has over the net I think. Artamonova is currently their best weapon and she's always injured.
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IT
Freshman
Posts: 66
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Post by IT on Jan 11, 2004 2:13:54 GMT -5
I think the final Olympic qualifier should contain at least another European team, however if they go by the rankings it will be the Netherlands. Poland and Turkey certainly make a very strong case to be included though.
From what I gather there will be eight teams in Tokyo to compete; Japan, Korea, Thailand, Chinese Taipei, Italy, Russia, possibly the second place team from South America and ? . Maybe one of the European teams will get that spot to compete. It should not go to Norceca since the US and Cuba already qualified and the Dominican Rep got sent to South America as their last and most likely chance to qualify.
In all fairness to the Asian teams I don't see how they can include Chinese Taipei in the field to challenge given their world rank (25th).
The final qualifier for Sydney in 2000 included three European teams, three Asian Teams, one from Norceca and South America.
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Post by sIsam on Jan 11, 2004 11:07:28 GMT -5
I think the final Olympic qualifier should contain at least another European team, however if they go by the rankings it will be the Netherlands. Poland and Turkey certainly make a very strong case to be included though. From what I gather there will be eight teams in Tokyo to compete; Japan, Korea, Thailand, Chinese Taipei, Italy, Russia, possibly the second place team from South America and ? . Maybe one of the European teams will get that spot to compete. It should not go to Norceca since the US and Cuba already qualified and the Dominican Rep got sent to South America as their last and most likely chance to qualify. In all fairness to the Asian teams I don't see how they can include Chinese Taipei in the field to challenge given their world rank (25th). The final qualifier for Sydney in 2000 included three European teams, three Asian Teams, one from Norceca and South America. I really hope they make some kind of change to the current rule to allow more euro teams to current composition or up the no of teams in the tourney... More teams deserve to be there ... |
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Post by USAFAN on Jan 11, 2004 12:42:33 GMT -5
I like the number of teams that the Olympics has in place right now. I don't think any team deserves to be in the Olympics unless they qualify. Yes, the European region is strong, but if you come out of there as a winner and qualify then you deserve to go. I don't think anyone picked Germany to win the ECH and get the bid, but the fact of the matter is that they won and they have earned their bid.
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Post by sIsam on Jan 11, 2004 13:00:24 GMT -5
I like the number of teams that the Olympics has in place right now. I don't think any team deserves to be in the Olympics unless they qualify. Yes, the European region is strong, but if you come out of there as a winner and qualify then you deserve to go. I don't think anyone picked Germany to win the ECH and get the bid, but the fact of the matter is that they won and they have earned their bid. I definitely agree that Germany deserve to be there even though it was at out expense. I'm OK with the no of teams in the Olympics as well. I would not mind them adding a few more teams to the qualification tourney in Japan though. The European region has been very even this year and I think this Baku tournament proved that the results of ECH were not a fluke. We will keep hoping until the FIVB announces the field for though it seems almost for sure that ITA and RUS will be the ones fighting for the OG spot. |
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Post by USAFAN on Jan 11, 2004 13:11:16 GMT -5
How many teams qualify from the Japan tournament? 3? Who are you hoping to qualify or who do you think will qualify?
I hope Japan, South Korea, and Italy.
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Post by sIsam on Jan 12, 2004 1:19:56 GMT -5
How many teams qualify from the Japan tournament? 3? Who are you hoping to qualify or who do you think will qualify? I hope Japan, South Korea, and Italy. 4 teams qualify but one has to be from Asia. The top placing Asian team qualifies as the Asian Qualifying winner and then three more does. Looking at the field there it should be Italy, Japan (as Asian Champ), Russia and South Korea. If somehow POL or TUR go from Europe, kick out S Korea and put in that team.... |
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Post by sIsam on Jan 20, 2004 5:55:32 GMT -5
Very strong rumors coming from Russia that Vassilevskaia, Gratcheva and Kilic/Chackova will be returning to nat'l team soon. They will be going back to a formation very similar to 4-5 yrs ago if these rumors turn out to be true. It will also change the balances at the tournament big time IMO.
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Post by doctordubya on Jan 21, 2004 4:30:59 GMT -5
In addition , as the game of vb rises to another level i think training methods of Karpol (he does not do any kind of weight / conditioning training for example) are becoming out of date and insufficient, thus the oft injuries to the team. Are you sure this is right? I remember reading an interview with Karpol where he extolled the virtue of activities such as hill running. His point was that in running up a steep hill, a player would perhaps take several thousand steps - each of these would be against a considerable load and would obviously build up the legs (in addition to the aerobic benefits). By contrast, you couldn't really ask someone to do a thousand leg presses. I took that as meaning that he incorporated weights and conditioning, but using an unconventional approach. I agree completely with your previous comment that the Russian playing style is out of date - their backrow play and offensive system are years behind the top teams. Karpol has managed to paper over the cracks with ever taller players for the past few years, but not any more. |
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Post by sIsam on Jan 21, 2004 5:03:13 GMT -5
Are you sure this is right? I remember reading an interview with Karpol where he extolled the virtue of activities such as hill running. His point was that in running up a steep hill, a player would perhaps take several thousand steps - each of these would be against a considerable load and would obviously build up the legs (in addition to the aerobic benefits). By contrast, you couldn't really ask someone to do a thousand leg presses. I took that as meaning that he incorporated weights and conditioning, but using an unconventional approach. I agree completely with your previous comment that the Russian playing style is out of date - their backrow play and offensive system are years behind the top teams. Karpol has managed to paper over the cracks with ever taller players for the past few years, but not any more. I read in his book that he does not use the modern conditioning methods. No weight training etc. He said there that he has the girls playing soccer and such to improve their fitness. Probably the exercises you mention are part of this too. In this day and age where strength and conditioning (and measurement and evaluation that comes with it) is a totally separate science this seems kind of out of date and as I said before note the number of injuries (esp knee) russian players face. I think other teams are no longer intimidated by the Russian style of pure power. Their way is basically to pount the ball harder from the high balls to the corners. As the other teams get faster and stronger (which means they can dig and block better vs the predictable Russian attack), I expect Russia to have more and more problems in the intl arena. In addition, since Kirillova quit (not that the three setters after her Nikulina (sp??), Vassilevskaia and Gratcheva were/are not good setters), their play has been based purely on power. Now that they are also lacking the supply of young talent that they used to have, I can see them struggling even more in the coming year. Curious to see if Karpol will find a way out of this for them or if someone else will  |
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Post by doctordubya on Jan 21, 2004 6:25:59 GMT -5
I read in his book that he does not use the modern conditioning methods. No weight training etc. He said there that he has the girls playing soccer and such to improve their fitness. Probably the exercises you mention are part of this too. In this day and age where strength and conditioning (and measurement and evaluation that comes with it) is a totally separate science this seems kind of out of date and as I said before note the number of injuries (esp knee) russian players face. The Karpol method does sound out of date. It certainly doesn't seem to work anymore - given that Karpol can select and work on players from quite a young age, and then can keep them together in a club side even when they are not on international duty, Russia should be doing a lot better. Interesting that the men's team seems to be using the same approach to winning at the international level - the average height of their starters at the recent European Olympic qualifier was 2.06m, or 6'9". They certainly block, attack and serve very well, but I still think that a team with excellent ball control and a fast offence (such as Brazil or Serbia) will beat them. |
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