World Grand Prix 2009

    Quote from Matthias

    Anyone watched BRA-GER? What happened? Yesterday I wanted to write that finally we are playing well, and now this :white:

    i've watched whole match. in the first set( i know it will sound weird) Germans played really well, enought to say that they made only 1 error and that was a service error and still they lost 25-15 which shows how amazing Brasil was today. in the second set Germany starts off really well(5-2) and than something happened with them, they lost 11( :white: ) points in a row . last set was totally dominated by Brasilians who control everything. Natalia is really great and promising player for Brasil :drink: so far along with Koszeleva and Flier she is the best player in the finals


    Anyone can support a team that is winning - it takes no courage. But to
    stand behind a team to defend a team when it is down and really needs
    you, that takes a lot of courage.

    Quote from Chipp

    Block good? The middle-blockers didn't get a direct point with blocking, not that good in my opinion! And about the serve errors, when you saw some faces.. it looked like they didn't believed in it together to come back. Now prepare for Bras


    Chipp


    Then you saw the same match as I did, but I see it positif, they blocked many attacks of the Japanees but their defence was so good,they couldn't make the kill-blocks.
    I hope they can prepare for a surprise against Brasil.

    So Brazil will be the winner. What a surprise :lol:
    The Netherlands lost 3-0 to Japan? How come? An we wasn't able to win a single set against Dutches and beat Japan without problems. Crazy volleyball. But generally Japan play much better at home or even only at home...

    The most important 3:
    POLAND-SZCZECIN-VOLLEYBALL


    5th place - Prediction Game - World League 2011 :D

    :obey: Sano!


    Well done to Japan. subarashi :D


    Holland: that was very disappointing, horrible reception :wall:


    i was very surprised that Avital didn't sub Chaine out. ?(

    Prediction Games:
    Gold Medal - World League 2009
    Gold Medal - Grand Prix 2009
    Gold Medal - Grand Prix 2011
    Gold Medal- Women's European Championships 2011
    Bronze Medal - Grand Prix 2010

    Russia has a player in a new position "Middle Blocker Libero" (or "Middle Libero" or "Blocking Libero").


    Murtazaeva is the first receiver with 47 attempts (and 20 excellents); second digger (!) after Kabeshova (with 20 attempts) and she did 4 killing blocks on 13 attempts. But just 11 attacks of which 6 were points.


    It's incredibile that Russia is winning with that formula. I guess Gamova, Kosheleva and Makarova are doing wonders in attack if they can sacrifice a middle blocker position.


    When Japan serves are on they are really dangerous. 11 aces today! They destroyed dutch reception. Yesterday they were not able to do the same on the weaker (at least because it's a 2 players pattern) russian reception. Japan usually wins when their serves cause trouble and when they can play with speed and on the hands of the block. And obviously driving the other team crazy by digging all.


    Good job Japan, you are a spectacular team to watch when you are on. I hope it could happen more often.

    Quote from samba player


    Murtazaeva is the first receiver with 47 attempts (and 20 excellents); second digger (!) after Kabeshova (with 20 attempts) and she did 4 killing blocks on 13 attempts. But just 11 attacks of which 6 were points.

    "Just" 11 attacks? Look at the other statistics, this is much more than she usually attacks :D But as you say, when you have wing hitters like Gamova, Makarova and Kosheleva, middle attack is not that important.


    A curiosity about this current Brazil's team:


    #01 Fabiana - middle-blocker - Junior World Champion in 2003
    #02 Ana Tiemi Takagui - setter - Junior World Champion in 2005
    #03 Danielle Lins - setter - Junior World Champion in 2003
    #06 Thaísa Menezes - Junior World Champion in 2005
    #08 Adenizia Silva - Junior World Champion in 2005
    #09 Natália Pereira - Junior World Champion in 2007
    #10 Welissa Gonzaga - Junior World Champion in 2001
    #11 Joyce Silva - Junior World Champion in 2003
    #13 Sheilla Castro - Junior World Champion in 2001
    #15 Regiane Bidias - Junior World Champion in 2005
    #18 Camila Brait - Junior World Champion in 2007


    The only players which didn't take part of Brazil's u-20 roster in their 4-title campaign (2001-2007) were
    #05 Caroline Gattaz - middle blocker
    #07 Marianne Steinbrecher - outside hitter
    #14 Fabiana Oliveira - libero


    The players which will be part of Brazil's roster in the future will be:


    #04 Paula Pequeno - Junior World Champion in 2001
    #12 Jaqueline Carvalho - Junior World Champion in 2001


    I also believe that with Jaqueline and Paula's return, Brazil's reception will be more stable and that will allow Brazil to keep on playing with speed, variations and combos.
    Another feature of Brazil's team which needs to be worked is their blocking timing against the Russian players, especially in the very-high balls. It seems Brazil's blockers should've waited a little longer before jumping to try to block the Russian attackers. I believe they need to play one or two more matches against Russia to get used to their style of playing.

    Taken from FIVB.com



    Tokyo, August 22, 2009



    Today the most exciting and balanced match should have been Netherland versus Brazil, but after the unpredictable defeat of the Dutch by Japan a day earlier, almost everybody foresaw a Brazilian victory.


    As soon as the game started, we discovered that Flier and her teammates were back and their incomprehensible disappearance yesterday was only an accident.
    Very soon it became clear we would be treated to a good match between two willing and resolute teams.


    Ze Roberto, the Brazilian coach, can rely on many players who are capable of replacing the starting members and yesterday Sassà took the place of Natalia, stabilizing the reception.


    What struck me was the smoothness and naturalness with which the Brazilian athletes always react to difficulties. They remain single-minded in avoiding wasting any energy and they continue to play smart even when the match becomes very tough.


    I think that this positive attitude is a result of their individual skills, both technical and tactical, and above all on some good habits they have developed.



    Allow me to use the definition of habit used in psychology:


    activities that you do without thought that are less energy-consuming than others because you don't have to spend time motivating yourself to do them.


    It goes without saying that in Volleyball good habits are fundamental and Brazil has a lot of good habits. They have a clear idea about how they want to play.


    Brazil isn’t the best team in the world only because their distribution is quicker than other teams or because they block more efficiently (even though they do perform excellently in these fundamentals).


    They are the best squad because they can play at fine level without expending too much energy. They have so many good habits that most of the time they naturally and seemingly effortlessly make the right choice.


    I want to make this idea clearer with the following example:
    I recently wrote that I like the effort that the Russian team is putting in to improve their defense.
    During the first three matches they succeeded in this goal, but today in a tough match against Germany, they lost their focus and they slipped back to their old attitude. This happened because they still have to think about the process of improving their defense because the change isn’t already hardwired into the brain.
    If they remain committed as long as necessary to bring about this goal, they’ll dig better to create more opportunities and spend much less energy doing so
    .
    Almost every team participating in the 2009 WGP Final Round aside from Brazil is facing the same challenge of identifying their biggest priorities and working to develop their performance levels.
    They need commitment, consistency and, last but not least, a lot of time.
    They cannot tackle more than one issue at a time or they will run a serious risk of overwhelming themselves.


    This could be a big advantage for Brazil, which is far ahead in this process. It won’t be easy for the other teams to reach Brazil’s level because Ze Roberto can count on a host of well-developed players who every day do their best in order to earn their place on the team at the expense of the competition.


    Today, not one member of the Brazilian team said anything about the almost certain 2009 WGP victory, probably because they never underestimate anyone, not even Japan, which has a slim chance of troubling the South American squad on the final day (and match) of the tournament Sunday.


    Never say never, but only a miracle or a nightmare, depending on your nationality, will prevent Brazil from obtaining their foregone eighth WGP crown tomorrow.



    Bye bye andrea zorzi
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    Well, I truly didn't expect the Dutch to win against Russia, but I am diasappointed because of too many stupid mistakes which lead to not to win even one single set. It's sad that the shameful performance against Japan - with all respect to Japan - costs the girls the third place.


    Congratulations to Matthias and his fellow Germans for their third place !!


    I think this tournament showed once again that with only Flier you can't win against Brazil and Russia. I am disappointed in the reception - especially Chaine Staelens - and the amount of stupid mistakes the team made. The team needs to work really hard to improve the reception!!


    After the ECH in Poland it's time to give a real chance to young players as Buijs and De Kruijf instead of Chaine Staelens and Huurman. Chaine is too vulnerable in reception and will not improve anymore; Francine is 34 years old and I expect her to retire in one or two years.

    Quote from bobaas

    Congratulations to Germany!!! They won bronze medal!
    Netherlands don't have power right now, and this is what I predict. They was in big form too early.


    I agree. Manon loked very tired, she hadn't power, energy. :( Holland disappointed. Germans played very good on this tournament- nice surprise. They are young and far-reaching team. Atmosphere inside team is very good. A lot of smile and joy with game. Gudetti executes splendid work. Everybody know, that Kożuch, Furst are very good players, but me very impressed Brinker. Anybody knows something more about her? She stayed in Leverkusen?

    :what: Whaaaat? I can't believe this :| :woohoo:
    I am still not sure if we deserve the medal after the bad performance against Russia yesterday, and in fact we must wait until JPN-BRA is over because actually Japan can still kick us from 3rd place if they win with more than 17 points advantage :whistle:


    Stusi: Leverkusen team went down to 2nd league, so Brinker transfered to USC Münster. It isn't one of the best teams in our league, but she started a job education in Leverkusen and Münster is not far away from there.

    Matthias, i did not understand....Brinker work and play volleyball?? she can't just play volley??I think she should leave germany in next season because she is a good player

    Quote from B. Moreira

    Matthias, i did not understand....Brinker work and play volleyball?? she can't just play volley??I think she should leave germany in next season because she is a good player


    In Netherland it is the same.. only the best go abroad. Almost all top players that play in Netherland are students or work next to the volleybal. Financial it is not possible to play volleybal only..

    Yeah, almost all players work or study besides volleyball because they can't live from volleyball. There are very few who decide to focus only on volleyball because it is a risk, you can play volleyball for 10-15 years but what will you do then? So pretty much all players learn a job or graduate from university so they can do something else after volleyball.


    But I agree that Brinker should play in a better league, I hope she will do it when she has finished her education...even Anne Matthes goes to Italy now and she is not as good as Brinker.

    Best scorer: Manon Flier
    Best spiker: Tatiana Kosheleva :woohoo:
    Best blocker: Fabiana Claudino
    Best server: Manon Flier
    Best digger: Kerstin Tzscherlich :what:
    Best setter: Yoshie Takeshita
    Best receiver: Fabiana de Oliveira
    Best libero: Kerstin Tzscherlich :white:


    This is according to the rankings on FIVB site, I hope awards will be given this way. I really wonder who will be MVP this year...

    Sheila CAstro MVP!!! A fully deserved award!

    Congratulations to Brazil...they definetly are playing better right now...I think Zorzi explained just fine why!! ^^


    But talking about the teams I like..hehe....For the dutch team...well..I understand the disapoitment from all..but I think if we look for the other side too...maybe this team is just needing a bit more time and a bit more work...true..they didnt played their best in this Grand Prix, and the game was to much over Flier that clearly was to tired at the end to keep the high level she presented hole Grand Prix...but Chaine is just comming back from a hole season stoped...Kim in Italy didnt play constantly..and that lack of regularity troubles a lot a player..specially a setter...that needs to be playing and practicing all the time. Stam had the injuried in Montreux, and still not in best shape too...so..I mean...this are not excuses..but I'm sure the Dutch team can improve a lot still. They definelty showed already that quality they have, and that these players work well together, so..I think in close future they will be playing better!


    And Germany!!!I'm so happy for them!!!They are definelty the team that is growing a lot!!!They showed this final round that they can play really high level!!!Though sometimes they still miss to keep their mind and their game...they still makes some mistakes in ball control that really disturbs their mind during the sets...and make them loose their focous...but...they defiently played really high level volleyball, when they learn how to keep this high level with regularity they will be one of the best teams in the World in my opinion!!!!
    And I'm sure that there are a lot of Brasilians also happy for this young team here...for their conquer...I was always fan of them..but being able to see them playing live here in Rio definelty made my support on them go a higher level!!! These girls are really hard working, and sweethearts..I wish them all the best...and I"m really happy they won third place!