2018 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League

  • Terzic's resistance to trying out Katarina Lazovic is really starting to get on my nerves! It's starting to look so ridiculous that I'm not even sure she will play if/when they send a B team to Week 5. :down: :wall:


    I thought we'd see her as well. Perhaps she's been injured. It does make sense that she'll not play next week as they want to clinch the F6 spot so the main squad will be going to the Netherlands. And if it happens, I do believe she'll be going to Argentina if fit.
    And hey, he's not playing Buša! It's already a miracle enough.

  • I thought we'd see her as well. Perhaps she's been injured. It does make sense that she'll not play next week as they want to clinch the F6 spot so the main squad will be going to the Netherlands. And if it happens, I do believe she'll be going to Argentina if fit.
    And hey, he's not playing Buša! It's already a miracle enough.

    I think having this golden generation* at his disposal has made Terzic a lot more apprehensive/reluctant at testing new players while still in their "teens" since 2014/2015. Prior to that, he regularly included players still in their second decade even on the biggest competitions who would go on to become world-class players. Spasojevic and Djerisilo since they were 19(though that was a different time, prior to any success of our NT); Veljkovic and Boskovic since they were 17; Rasic and Brakocevic since 18 etc.


    *And it is a golden generation (2015-now), no matter that we have had success prior to any member of it but Maja becoming part of the NT. And Maja is something of a special case, since she is actually part of that older generation who simply lasted long enough to get into the narrative of this new, "golden" generation. Prior to 2015, we simple never had 6 world-class players at the same time, all of whom could be said to be in the Top 10 in their respective positions (well, maybe Veljkovic is among Top 15).

  • I would REALLY like if we were to play with that lineup in fifth week! :heart:


    Milenkovic, Aleksic, Lazovic and Lozo were the 4 best players in Serbian league this past season, but I'm not (yet) all that high on Lozo. I will have to see her play more to reach some solid conclusions.


    But the first 3 are really promising (except Milenkovic's receive, obviously)! I especially like Lazovic, since I feel she might finally be that much coveted 2nd world-class OH that we so badly need. But Aleksic also shows a great promise (yes, yet another potentially world-class Serbian MB, how surprising! ;) :P ). Think of her as slightly less promising Zehra, if you will.


  • I think having this golden generation* at his disposal has made Terzic a lot more apprehensive/reluctant at testing new players while still in their "teens" since 2014/2015. Prior to that, he regularly included players still in their second decade even on the biggest competitions who would go on to become world-class players. Spasojevic and Djerisilo since they were 19(though that was a different time, prior to any success of our NT); Veljkovic and Boskovic since they were 17; Rasic and Brakocevic since 18 etc.


    Well, times have changed. The generation of Anja and Ivana were pioneers, they didn't have anyone to replace as they were the best despite their young age. Stefana and Milena got a chance when they were still babies because the MB position was a weak spot for our NT back then - ironic to look back to it now!
    Obviously, it's much more difficult to break through to the A team now as the competition is much bigger. And also, back in the day, everything we did was a bonus, now the expectations are much higher and there's not much "luxury" to make experiments.


    Anyway, I'd rather have it the way it is now with a select few players being gradually introduced to the big scene then how it was in 2009-2010 with huge rosters and people like Anđelka Pantović (I mean, seriously) being on/around the team.

  • What it is with Serbia is they just have A-MAZING sports culture and spirit! Look at them, they're as Serdar said before good in pretty much any sport. Even in Tennis they have many good players, think of Novak Djokovic. And yes it might be that they get a lot of great talents like Boskovic, Rasic, Mihajlovic in one generation and this helps them to be at top surely. However Serbia with the amount of time and effort they put in sports for me will always be a danger anywhere. Also personally I feel like Eastern (and Southern) Europeans are much stronger mentally then the Westerns and can handle pressure much better throughout their carreer. Western Europeans however tend to be more disciplined which makes them very good in a lot of sports as well, the thing with Serbia is they have both somehow and they have dedication :box:

  • You always have great talents.Morever your players are usually very athletic.What's the secret of Serbia ?( :D

    Well, as far as athleticism, it has to do with the fact that Balkan nations are some of the tallest, on average, in the world. Whenever I speak with a foreign friend of mine, and we touch on the subject of height, I have trouble making them believe just how tall the female population under the the age of 30 is on average here. It's truly mind-boggling, but I, who am 188 cm tall (6.2 feet), which I am given to believe is significantly above average in many countries, rarely meet a girl my age (or younger) who is significantly shorter than me.


    As for talent pool, other than the luck of having an amazingly strong 90-92 generation, and coming upon a prodigy like Tijana Boskovic (which is more luck than anything else, really), it has to do with the fact that female volleyball is, by far, the #1 most popular female sport here, and that an abnormally high percent of the young female population is playing it. I once came upon some figures, and in relation to total country's population, it would be akin to 1.5 million Turkish girls training volleyball (or 3.5 million Brazilian, or 5.5 American etc.).

  • The Serbia coach and the Turkish dude are just professional whiners. Brazil too, as far as I can tell. Just watch them some time. It's built into their personalities. It's what they do. They take it out on their players and the referees, and anybody else that shows up. I'm not impressed.

    While you are well within your rights not to like them, I too can’t stand Guidetti, I think it’s a bit unfair to take their in game personalities and try to extend it to their entire personality. They are all competitive, they are all desperate to win, they all take winning volleyball matches very seriously and they will be angry with players who are not playing to the level they expect from them that’s true but it doesn’t make them unpleasant people, remember we only really see one side of them.


    Here is a short video of Terzic talking (in English) about his role as a coach and teacher https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mlfLM9yiO9U


    Guidetti as well https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hYbPpV5cg7E


    I’m not saying you have to like them or agree with their methods but it’s not very helpful to portray them as miserable boogeymen always looking for someone to blame or to make people’s lives difficult.

  • I just checked height stats in Europe and indeed wow 3 of the Balkans are REALLY tall in average (Serbia, B&H, Croatia) aside them the Dutch also are incredibly tall


    Ironically Turkey and Italy (and Bulgaria and Ukraine) seem to be one of the shortest and even Russia seems pretty short in average surprisingly. Bulgaria as one of the shortest, kudos to them with such a little country they're still doing pretty good! According to height, Sweden should follow Haak's footsteps and step up :lol:

  • Well, as far as athleticism, it has to do with the fact that Balkan nations are some of the tallest, on average, in the world. Whenever I speak with a foreign friend of mine, and we touch on the subject of height, I have trouble making them believe just how tall the female population under the the age of 30 is on average here. It's truly mind-boggling, but I, who am 188 cm tall (6.2 feet), which I am given to believe is significantly above average in many countries, rarely meet a girl my age (or younger) who is significantly shorter than me.


    As for talent pool, other than the luck of having an amazingly strong 90-92 generation, and coming upon a prodigy like Tijana Boskovic (which is more luck than anything else, really), it has to do with the fact that female volleyball is, by far, the #1 most popular female sport here, and that an abnormally high percent of the young female population is playing it. I once came upon some figures, and in relation to total country's population, it would be akin to 1.5 million Turkish girls training volleyball (or 3.5 million Brazilian, or 5.5 American etc.).

    I would have thought tennis is hugely popular as well, no? For such a small country to have 3 different female world number 1s as well as one of the greatest of all-time men (Djokovic) and women (Seles) is truly remarkable.

  • According to height, Sweden should follow Haak's footsteps and step up


    Yes, look at the swedish girls who are playing in European Silver league. They are really tall and young. If they will play together the next 10 year (the oldest player is libero who's 25 y.o.) they might achieve some good results.

  • I would have thought tennis is hugely popular as well, no? For such a small country to have 3 different female world number 1s as well as one of the greatest of all-time men (Djokovic) and women (Seles) is truly remarkable.


    It's actually not, and certainly wasn't at the time Đoković and the gang were starting out. There's been a tennis boom a sort since, but that sport is still way too expensive for most people to pick it up. I don't think there's any rational explanation as to how we got to have so many great players, at the same time no less. And Ivanović and Janković were hideously underappreciated while they were on top, but that's another story.

  • It's actually not, and certainly wasn't at the time Đoković and the gang were starting out. There's been a tennis boom a sort since, but that sport is still way too expensive for most people to pick it up. I don't think there's any rational explanation as to how we got to have so many great players, at the same time no less. And Ivanović and Janković were hideously underappreciated while they were on top, but that's another story.

    Ah, interesting. Yes it’s still very much seen as an upper class sort of sport here as well due to the expenses despite Andy Murray’s success.


    Yes, Ivanovic and Jankovic were supposedly failure no. 1s, whatever that means :lol:


    Sorry about the off-topic guys, I know this isn’t inside.tenniscountry.com.

  • They are all competitive, they are all desperate to win, they all take winning volleyball matches very seriously and they will be angry with players who are not playing to the level they expect from them that’s true but it doesn’t make them unpleasant people, remember we only really see one side of them.


    I appreciate a little pushback. I'm too grumpy, angry, frustrated about these guys. But the reigning World Champions and the current Olympic and World Cup Gold Medal Team also "take winning volleyball matches very seriously" and I've never seen their coaches "be angry with players who are not playing to the level they expect" or roll their eyes at them, or call them stupid (well, I guess I can't be sure about that one), or do a sign of the cross when a player missteps ... although they may have quieter (angry) ways of expressing frustration. And they may be massively disrespectful during practices that we don't see. But what you show during an internationally televised match is reflective of your personality as a human. I've seen the DOM coach reduce his players to tears!


    There was talk here recently about teams trash talking. Honestly, I've never seen it, but who were those teams under discussion? Brazil, Serbia, Russia. We've seen that young Turkish player kick a ball at an opposing team and do a little shimmy shimmy coco bop.


    Can you imagine someone trash talking Nootsara Tomkom?


    You get what you bring.

  • Fair enough. I’m not for a second saying that being aggressive is the only way to win or that some of these coaches don’t go too far sometimes, just that there are different approaches that different coaches take that are all designed for the same result: winning. I totally understand if you don’t like some of these approaches I’m just saying try not to read too much into them.


    And yes, in my experience of watching I’ve found Asian players are probably the least likely to get into fights with their opponents which I assume is due to cultural differences.

  • Sitenoise, you should be happy you're experiencing this particular era of volleyball.


    Yikes!


    Old school, I guess.


    I apologize for my pot calling the kettle black action of offending folks who are fans of the gentlemen under discussion.


    I'm as disapproving of the current snowflake movement as I am of anything else, but I live in a country with a president who thinks being a dick is a virtue. I'm overly-sensitive to the trickle down repercussions of that.


    To reiterate something I wrote earlier: I'm keenly aware of the connection between teams I like to watch and their coaches I don't. :what:


    :drink:

  • Russia is leading 1-0 in sets, and 16-10 in the second set, and Karpol is yelling like they are slowly cutting off his leg...


    Perspective, eh?! :lol: :lol: ;)

  • It's actually not, and certainly wasn't at the time Đoković and the gang were starting out. There's been a tennis boom a sort since, but that sport is still way too expensive for most people to pick it up. I don't think there's any rational explanation as to how we got to have so many great players, at the same time no less. And Ivanović and Janković were hideously underappreciated while they were on top, but that's another story.

    It's like I wrote this post! Sign every word! :thumbup:


    As for Ivanovic, she represented a very interesting (and revealing) test of collective psychology for us as a sport-viewing nation. In her case, a pathological tendency to only root for winners and to spit on those who until yesterday we idolised as soon as they stop winning, went to war against a nasty sexist habit of only appreciating female athletes in direct proportion to their attractiveness.


    And in her case, the former psychological tendency won out, so even though she was world #1 and a grand slam winner, as well as breathtakingly cute/beautiful, she was pronounced a failure and regularly derided by an average sport fan here.


    And I also apologise for this off-topic. :win: