Position: Outside Hitter
Height: 190cm
Birth Date: May 26, 1977
Club: Spartak Omsk
1. Do or did you have a rolemodel?
Yes i had some kind of role model, for example the young players who come to see the games wants to be as good as i am one day, so it is imortant to be a good example for them. In the summer i was invited to be a coach for young players and they were really excited about it!
2. You played in so many different leagues. Which one might be the next?
I don't know, now it is important to choose the best contract, doesn't matter where. In Italy it was very good to grow like a player and in this time the league was very strong, a lot of the best foreingers were there and i learned a lot. Now with this experience and my name i can go anywhere, that means i made good choises through the years! Next year we will see!!
3. In your opinion, which league is the strongest in europe right now?
I think Russian league is pretty strong because teams have more foreign players now and good ones, also the Russian players stayed in Russia! Turkey is also strong because of the same reason! Economical crisis kills a bit the levels in the countrys where before it was so strong like Italy or Spain!
4. Can you describe what you like about playing and living in russia and what you might disklike?
It is very different here in Russia, they are behind in their ways of playing volleyball (in female league), the coaches are old and grew up in Karpol school and they don't study better volleyball! It is hard sometimes because when you are a stranger coming from Europe then you know better then the coach here! In Omsk it is nice playing, a lot of people come to see the games!
5. With what players are you good friends?
Well, in our world it is hard to have good friends but when you have them it is for life. I am very good friends with Magy Glinka, Mira Golubovic, Yelena Pavlova, Bojana Dogancic because i also hear them when i am in Omsk. Then it is always nice when i go to play somewhere and there are ex-teammates playing there then i can say i see my friends back, so after the game we hang out and have long talks.
6. If you were a coach, which 6 players would you choose to play for your team?
I don't know exactly, good question, being here in Omsk takes me a bit out of European volley. My setter Lo Bianco, opposite Gamova, 4 players Glinka and Godina, centrals Golubovic and Gioli, libero Cardullo, these looked on the players of 'my generation'
7. What is your major goal in volleyball you want to achieve one day? Or have you achieved it already?
Well, i think i achieved it, of course there are always more goals, for the moment i am happy, sometimes i think more about my goals in life! Having a family and a stability, opening a coffee bar, these kind of goals that have to wait because i am achieving my volleyball goals!
8. What was the last movie you watched in cinema and how did you like it?
Last movie in cinema was Sex in the City, (here i don't go in cinema, Russian language and i liked it!
9. Where did you spend your last holidays?
My last holidays of course i spend in Belgium with my friends and family and also i go in Italy every summer to Novara.
10. What kind of music do u like the most?
I like lots of kind of music, depends of the mood, but i listen the texts always! I like to fall a sleep with relaxing music and before the game i like good pumping music :-). U2 is a group that in all my life i carry with me for example!
11. What subjects were you good at at school? And which you didn't like at all?
I was good in languages and i didn't like fysics or mathematics, sports i was the best
12. How many tattoos do you have?
I have 3 tattoos and when my career is finished i want my number '9' still tattood
13. Do/did you have any problems being tall?
No no problems, i think i found right away my sport where being tall is good
14. Please, name three things that most people don't know about you.
1. I am shy a lot off times, i can play for thousands of people but when i have to be on stage somewhere i feel like dying
2. i am very impulsive
3. I am thinking about it to go back in national team...
15. Do you have a special dream? (not concerning volleyball)?
My dream : my dream came true, my sister became my best friend, my ant fighted her cancer, i have friends for life, and i have found my love of my life! I never stop dreaming!! If you stop dreaming you stop living!!!
thanks to Virginie for the pictures