Eastern European teams

Quote from Russkii

By the way, we shouldn't had taught Cubans how to play VB.

And just to say, in the time when Dimitar Zlatanov was playing, his son is Hristo Zlatanov, bulgarians went in Italy to teach italians to volleyball, as the influence of Zlatanov was enourmous and bulgarians really had something to teach italians, Due to historical and economical events in the future, Italy become a dominating factor in the volleyball world, but Bulgaria still is such factor, despite all the negative events for our country during the comunism and after it.

Quote from AFROMAN

And just to say, in the time when Dimitar Zlatanov was playing, his son is Hristo Zlatanov, bulgarians went in Italy to teach italians to volleyball, as the influence of Zlatanov was enourmous and bulgarians really had something to teach italians, Due to historical and economical events in the future, Italy become a dominating factor in the volleyball world, but Bulgaria still is such factor, despite all the negative events for our country during the comunism and after it.

Italians achieved all their success with no bulgarian coach, Julio Velasco from Argentina.
It's a forum about volleyball not about policy.

Quote from AFROMAN

Romania has nothing to do with volleyball

I cant agree with you on that... Maybe not in Men's Volleyball (and as u can see this topic is in the females section ), but its a pretty fine team in Womens Volleyball. They have great players. Turlea, Nucu etc.

And Konrad,
you gave good examples for Spain. Also germany as the handball worldchampion has great success and might disprove my thesis about the different mentalities. But still its noticable how much more motivated e.g. russian players seem.
I mean, even i notice at smaller tennis tournaments that east europeans are so much more motivated to win and that a defeat is like a downfall and their last chance. Of course there are such personalities everywhere but in east europe even more

Gottlib: As far as volleyball is inflicted by policy

Nastja: You understand right some things in the pshycology of the eastern european.

Quote from AFROMAN

Nastja: You understand right some things in the pshycology of the eastern european.

Afroman.... I am easteuropean myself... i dont need to understand it, i just live that way.
And yes, maybe there are some political decisions concerning volleyball, BUT i dont want to have politics in this forum.

Open a topic in the "locker room" if you desire to discuss politics but not here

Dear Afroman and Konrad, maybe you're right talking about basketball audiences on courts, not in TV....Only Spain NT has big shares on spanish TV....when wins.

But Gasol, Navarro, Garbajosa, Rodríguez & Calderón are playing in the NBA, not in Spain.Money, money

Real Madrid, Barcelona, Pamesa and so on, are full of slovenians, croatians, serbians, lithuanians and of course yankees. A few number of spaniards PLAY really in the Spanish basketball league. If you want more "eastern" players names; please tell it to me or check yourself the rosters on www.acb.com

ROLANDO Uríos is a cuban-born handball player. Is the same case of Julio Fis (Cuba) or Talant Duishebaiev (Kazakhstan). Money,money

Tennis is just interesting in Spain when Nadal wins. And how many africans play tennis as a pro? Money,money

One last data. The Falasca Brothers were born in Mendoza (Argentina). Luckly they play with us. They are big players!!!!!!!

Quote from Nastja

Afroman.... I am easteuropean myself... i dont need to understand it, i just live that way.
And yes, maybe there are some political decisions concerning volleyball, BUT i dont want to have politics in this forum.

Open a topic in the "locker room" if you desire to discuss politics but not here

Are you? Sorry, I didn't know it, I thought you are german, with some polish roots. Maybe because I am stydying this - International Relations, that's why I talk about policy so much. I'm sorry.

Barrazo, maybe you are right. At least Barca has Jordi Trias. He's a great basketball player, a symbol of the club, like Xavi Hernandez in the football team.

Samba player, political influence was much more, and of course it inflicted sport, but not so much.( and you can't talk generally about sport, in football - maybe, not in volleyball). There were comunism in Poland also, but you don't say they don't have their own style. It's pretty the same here.

About Romania, only in women volleyball, and this are old players, there aren't any young talanted players, or at least not so many.

Quote from AFROMAN

About Romania, only in women volleyball, and this are old players, there aren't any young talanted players, or at least not so many.

Thats what Samba Player said in his very first post. " Only Romania is a team of veterans."

I've been just reading some articles and voila i found sth concerning this east european topic.
Ok, it is about tennis, but some statements are definitely also fitting to volleyball. I'll just quote some statements:

"The most obvious is the hardship Eastern European players have faced to make it to the top of the game. Opportunities have been limited for players from this part of the world, even since the fall of the Iron Curtain which shut Eastern Europe off from the rest of the world.
(...)
Circumstances like the ones above see Eastern Europeans forge an unmatched drive and mental toughness, separating them from the players hailing from more prosperous nations."

Ana Ivanovic said: "I think from Eastern Europe, people are very, very determined to succeed. We are all big fighters and big competitors"

"And players from Eastern Europe - many of whom have so little - use this as motivation to break away from their lives of hardship. (...)
While potential tennis players in affluent Western nations have myriad other sports and activities to attract their attention away from the game, as well as being far less likely to suffer financial hardship, players from Eastern Europe are on the production line ready to fill the vacancies."

---

I totally agree with these mentioned things and i think it answers somehow the question you, samba player, raised up
(If somebody wants to read the full article, click >>here <<;)

Well done Nastja !!!!

We just are talking about "Killer Instinct" on court. The "eastern" player (woman or man) have it always. The "western" player sometimes have it. If we can consider Cuba as a "eastern" school of volley, take a look on Tay Agüero. Right now, Italy is flying high with her. Agüero skills are very impressive: serving, receiving, defending, setting, spiking and also blocking. The "eastern" school works hard all of these skills when babies start to play the game. Their motivation is higher, they have a goal. Their way of life makes them "hungry" of victory, because the sport is a way to improve it. I say this with all my respect.

One time I saw Elizaveta Tischenko meeting Nikolai Karpol. Elizaveta was working as a volley commentator for the Russian TV. Maybe Karpol has that black legend about their hardness, their insults on court...you know. When Tischenko met him I just saw respect for the master. It was my impression. And I'm sure Nikolai Karpol made her cry a lot of times even when she was at the top of their career.

How many "western" children volleyballers stop to play too lately because they say "training is boring" or "sport is very hard for me?". No sacrifice, no excellence!!!!

Besides the "sociological" explanation given, we can not rule out the genetical gift as well, which is as important as hard training.

Quote from AFROMAN

There were comunism in Poland also, but you don't say they don't have their own style. It's pretty the same here.

Comunism was only in USSR, in particular 2 weeks of Olympic Games in Moscow....
Bulgaria has the same powerful style as Russia.Only Brazil plays very fast volleyball.

With no intend to argue, but rather to clarify, I am totally with Konrad on the wrong geography used here. As you can see on the attached map, most of the countries, mentioned here as "Eastern European" are actually in Central or Southern Europe. Eastern Europe really consists only of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, some of Russia, some of Ukraine and a tiny little bit of Kazakhstan.