According to the Chinese, the number eight brings lucky. Reid Priddy, outside hitter US team, also believes the number is special. It was this number, 8, that he wore on his NT’s shirt when he was reaching for gold of the World League, to become the Olympic winner not even a month later in Beijing.
Picture: FIVB
The American team arrived at Beijing with great expectations, but did you expect to actually win gold?
At the beginning I was positively shocked. I couldn’t believe that our dream had come true. It’s not a secret, though, that our team had always aimed for gold. Of course, as all the other teams, we secretly dreamt of it. I felt we were capable of making it, that we were among the favorites. Currently, we have a great generation of players on our team. I guess we equal the team that America had in the 1980s and the 1990s, that was wining at the Olympics in 1988 and was awarded bronze medal four years later. We really wanted to go back to those successes, but our primary aim in this season was to get better from game to game. We realized the fact that we could win against all the other teams and that s why we were not so astonished by our own attitude while playing against the best, though, on the other hand we never expected thing to turn out like they did for us. During all those years we worked hard for our success. We were building a team that would improve its performance as the games were approaching and we suceeded.
Being in the weaker group made it easier for you to get to the quarterfinal.
It was not us to decide which group we would be in. At the Olympics in Athens we also had theoretically weaker partners at the beginning of the competition. It did get us to the semifinals, but the finished the whole competition on the fourth position. I believe it doesn’t mean anything what rivals you get in the group phase. If you want to become the Olympic winner, you just have to win against everyone.
The Olympic finals were your third game in the last several months for you to play against the Brazilians. You won each time. Do you have some sort of patent on winning against the world champions?
I guess we have been very patient in our games with the Brazilians. We know perfectly well that there are many great players on their team, we accept that fact, but it does not paralyze us. We know our value and somehow we manage to play our best volleyball against the Brazil NT, letting them play their best game at the same time. It also happens, that when we stand against other rivals who do not match the Brazilians, we are not so focused or patient. That is why we sometimes performed worse against the less demanding opponents. I believe that if we eliminate this kind of behavior and will approach all the other teams as we approach Brazil, then we will show you our best volleyball also during other games.
Lloy Ball revealed that you are not very fond of the Brazilian players. Is this antipathy another impulse in your matches with the Brazil National Team?
But I do like the Brazilian players! Really. I respect them for what they have achieved and I value them as people. Believe me, there are many teams I don’t like more than Brazil, but I will not tell you which teams they are.
It has been said that the US National Team has no leader, and that your strength is the balanced team, but at the same time it is you who are seen as the key player on the team.
My role in the team has changed since the last year. A year or two ago I was in better form and I think that my individual skills, such as serving and attack were on much higher level than currently. However, this had no direct impact on the results our team. I have now understood that the number of points I score is not important. What is important is the team and as a team we need to do everything we can to improve our skills, not individually, but as a team. Our team is consolidated. It was that great metamorphosis which we underwent last year. I believe that now nobody in our national team cares about their individual score. We share a purpose and we aim to reach it without paying attention to personal achievements of individual players. During competitions I do not follow my position in rankings. It just does not interest me.
What was the atmosphere like inside the team in those crucial moments?
This year, I noticed a very positive change in this area. I wouldn’t call our national team a family, as the Brazilians do, but the truth is, we spend a lot more time together these days, than we do with our families. Before, we happened to play games where the communication between us on the playground failed. Recently, we have been working on this and the effects could already be seen during the Final Six in Rio de Janeiro. Now, we support each other in difficult moments, we are one and that unity and mutial respect are very important to us. At the same time we are aware of our worth as players and of the level we are able to keep up to. Every single score counts. We have a great will to succeed at each game, since when we put on out national team shirts we feel honored by the fact, pride and responsibility, of representing our country.
Picture: FIVB