Posts by Leonardo.D

Quote from Janko

What I hope above all else is for liberal democrats not to think that job will be done as soon as the Orange Man is out, that everything will be fine as soon as he is no longer president. Because we will still be left with an America that voted such an obviously incompetent and dangerous buffoon in the first place (and nearly voted him for second term, if he indeed even loses!). We will still be left with an America that is more polarized now than it has been since the Civil War. We will still be left with a country that is officially "Leader of the Free World" which is deeply, deeply undemocratic in many respects. A country where both parties have grown significantly worse over the years where choosing between them opens up a whole new dimension to the phrase "choosing between two evils".

In short, to get back to their brunches and parties, thinking everything is back to normal (newsflash: it was never normal).

I agree on this, just 100%. Let's really hope they learnt from their mistakes (cuz of there were MANY) and finally look at themselves and ask: what could we do in order to avoid a similar human being as Donald Trump becomes the next President? Cuz after 8 years of Obama, they would have never imagined, even in their worst nightmares, that Trump could be president. The balloon burst in their faces. Now, after 4 years of him, I do really hope that aside pointing out the mistakes and defects of Trump administration, they also make a reflection about what they should improve, keep doing and, most importa, quit doing in order to stop the rise of the anger. Sure, Biden has way more votes (popular one) than Trump now than what Hillary had. But at the same time, Trump has gotten more votes than 4 years ago. How is that possible when he had such a painful response to COVID, plus his countless stupid and hate speeches and most important, mass media openly against him? How is possible the race is nose to nose if according to so many surveys, it was a clear Biden's victory? How is possible he almost doubled his support with the latinos? If he is portrayed as the Evil against us (thanks to the humilliation words he has had toward us) , he (and only him) and his administration jail them in cages and separated latino families? Those are questions Liberal Democrats should answer if they would not like to face another Trump in 4 years, instead of only pointing out, mocking, laughing at and deriding people who dont think like them.

The sins of the other dont make you a saint. Never.

And I agree, this is the most polarized USA society since the Civil War. And Mass Media has huge impact on this. But they dont show the minimum piece of accountability for this.

Quote from serdar

I like the comparison to DR indeed. Both Turkey and DR are so underachieved considering the potential both have. It is surprising because Guidetti over-achieved with the teams he trained before (germany and Netherlands) so I am disappointed in that sense.

I agree most of your remarks. However we should keep in mind that the only measure of success is not international competitions. European championship itself is a quite a competitive platform. Turkey were medal contender in almost all editions in last two decades. It is not as meaningful as olympics and wch but how many european teams claimed a medal in these tournaments in last 2 decades anyways

I do agree, 100%. Like, whoever says Turkey isnt an European powerhouse is someone who is starting to watch vball or is hater. There is no doubt Turkey is one of the top teams in CEV, and as you said, a medal contender in the last two decades. As well as powerhouse in youth and junior categories. We do know ECH is one of the most competitive tournments worlwide and being medalist there is already a great achievement. Imagine being in the podium 5 of the last 9 editions! It's a success, without any doubt. But like I personally state, for me they are still missing THE step, THE break out into the intercontinetal arena. And I do think they have all the weapons for doing it. Btw, sorry for the offtopic.

Quote from Brtkk

Mediocre at best? Wow the ignorance level. I can't

I wouldnt call it mediocre (despite of it isnt an insult), but I do think Turkey NT could be considered a "light" disappointment.

The fact that there are two of my fav players (Eda and Naz) doesnt prevent me to state that as a NT, they havent achieved any relevant success in the intercontinental level. That's why I dont consider them a top team (yet).

I think someone feels "disappointment" from someone/sth you have expectations (my case with Turkish NT). They have one of the best leagues in the world, actually, for some years they were the best without a doubt, they have had amazing success with their U-18 & U-20, some really gold generations, some TOP and game changing players, fans and federation support and despite of all this, as I already said, their results in the intercontinental level have been discreet at their best. Nevertheless, they have many strengths in order to be considere medal contenderrs.

Sure, the addition of one of the best coaches in the world is a HUGE plus, because there is a lot of raw material in the Turkish players and there is no doubt he will help to change the mentality (for me it is a key element). All these factos make us a think there is a lot of room of improvement and the sky is the limit for TR NT, but, at the same time, that lack of "fierceness" shown through the years or that "almost-almost done" could you make you doubt or think: will the finally make the break out? Teams with much less have done bigger things.

For example, I did expect more from Turkey than Italy in the last WCH, but at the end, they were a flop.

Differences aside, they remind me DR.

I think that one very important factor that hasnt been taken in consideration in the "rise of the right wing" is the HUGE disappoinment of the Left Wing parties worldwide. At least in Southamerica, it has been a HUGE flop (Foro de Sao Paulo downfall). I do agree that Bolsonaro success and current approval in Brazil (and in other countries) is due to all the reasons already mentioned here (religious, social, military, etc). But I'm still wondering why the "omissions" (some are even crimes) of the left wing parties arent even mentioned . The left wing parties around whole Southamerica has been deeply involved in filthy corruption scandals, which did help a lot in the "rise of the anger". That has a very deep impact in the average citizen (working class), who feels his daily challenge of surviving isnt understood by the "well educated and out of reality" Left wing leaders.

It still amazes me how people cant see that Trump popularity and rise (worlwide) is deeply connected by the mistakes done by the Democrat Party and the Left Wing Mass Media, by far. It really amazed me people was super chocked when he won 4 years ago. Worlwide, people think US is only East and West Coast, but they do forget about the rustle belt, which tends to decide the Elections. Those people are FED UP of the lack of sense of reality of the Left Wing. Or do someone really think that Obama government was daisy and rose garden?

As a Southamerican, who really knows what USA means to us, Trump represents the "core culture" of the US middle class. US isnt just LA, Miami and NY. So, it wasnt a surprise at all.

Instead of poiting out what the other is doing wrong, Left Wing should check what they are doing wrong (worldwide) in order to let such a human being as Trump could be in charge of a country as USA. But so far, it has not happened yet. Same script than in 2016, so it wouldnt surprise me if Trump wins again.

Same goes to Europe. I have been travelling to Europe every year since 2012 and gosh, the rise of the (extreme) right wing parties is deeply felt. Spain, France, Italy, ND,Germany, etc...It really scares me. People do not feel ashamed anymore to ask or say the first thing that comes to their minds. Some years ago, it would be unthinkable to listen to those questions, cuz they would be labelled as racist, homophic, clasist, etc. But now they are even seen on TV...

The fact of feeling "moral and educated" superior to the others who dont share the same values has done that the Letf Wing parties and their supporters were prisioners of their own mistakes. We ask for tollerance, but we are the first who cant tollerate different ways of thinkings or ways to see the world. We could even see it in the forum. Instead of trying to explain why the other point of view is wrong, show arguments, etc, the first things is to label the other one as an ignorant, stupid, etc. Or the worse, to mock at him. Instead of trying to understand why someone became a Trump, Marine Le Pen, Salvini or Bolsonaro supporter, the first comment by the Left Wing Media is to make fun of him/her, to dismiss him/her. Hence, how couldnt you expect for such a rise of the anger?

Quote from MyNameIst.

Conegliano is boring. 😂 I am saying this every time they have a game. Not because they are not good. But they are actually too good and i was just hoping they just put their bench players there and we have more exciting match.

I see they are slowly transitioning adams to hill. But adams is doing just fine. They don't need hill tbh. I think she abd folie might be useful in CL. Same what is happening to MBH with vakifbank. Their lineup is too deep and they just have to hide at least 1 foreign player foe CL.

I think that there is a difference between being too powerful against another team, being dominant than being "boring". We do know Conegliano is the archi favourite in the Italian League. We already know how the match will end before it starts in most of their matches, as well as they crush easily they rivals. And, of course if we are neutral, it is boring to not see suspense in their matches.

Nevertheless, I do think Conegliano team plays one of the most beautiful volleyball nowadays. It was even better 2 years ago. Sometimes their vball is just flawless, volleyball as its 100% pure style. De Gennaro and Wolosz are big resposibles of that.

Boskovic performance at the end of the set reminded me Egonu's one against China in the WCH semis. They were the ones who dictated the way of the set, everything passes throught her hands. Eczacibasi was very closed to the comeback thanks to Boskovic serves, as well as second line attack, but then two unforeced errors decided it. All the last 6 points (except Alessia attack and MB tip) were done by Boskovic.

Such a key player.

Quote from crovolley

And how is Sweden still going normally ? Ignorance ?

Only country which numbers are not wilding and they didn't have any lockdowns. Because they are not idiots.

I highly recommend you to not forget factors as cultural, social, demographics, etc. Even much more when a pandemic is running. We couldnt judge the results of the pandemic in each country with only one index.

Like it was already highlighted, Sweden is a country which is well known for its good medical healthcare, low density and last but not least, it super low in the global corruption index. And, of course, we could not forget their behaviour. Nordic countries to not have the same costumes than Mediterranean countries, starting with the way of saying Hi. As well as the sense of "colectivism" is way more developed.

And please, once again, the world isnt just Europe, USA, Canada, NZ AU, etc. We shouldnt forget that there are many countries where more than 30% of their people still dont have proper running water system. So, how could they follow the first (and most important) step of washing your hands? Countries where instead of sending the medical supplies to the people who really need them, they sell ithem 5 times the price in black markets, etc.

Some Southamerican countries decided to run a similar strategy as the Swedish and Austrian one. Really good plans. But they miserably collapsed because they did forget their citizens dont have the same behaviour, needs, etc than an European.

We shouldnt forget that while some Europeans already went to the beaches and danced in discos, there are countries which are still in lockdown since MARCH. A little bit more of empathy would be appreciated.

Quote from Bogdan123

Then Serbia is less serious than "not enough serious" countries, I don't know how else to explain to those for whom this is not a sufficient argument obtained from a person who lives and was born in that country, ......, in Serbia everything is possible, even the one on what do you think that it can't be done anywhere in the civilized world, it can be done here, of course if someone has contacts and connections, apparently Terzić and the Volleyball Federation certainly have that. I think that this explanation is superfluous and inappropriate, perhaps to this forum, but since it was not enough before.

After all, Vargas was obviously not and is not a resident of Serbia, that fact is easily accessible to everyone, I hope she has been to Serbia at least once (to be photographed for a passport perhaps).

Thank you so much for the answer! Like I already said, I do welcome the news Vargas will play for a NT in the future. I was just really curious to know how someone could get so fast citizenship in Serbia. Im from Latin America, and trust me, here we also live in a land where everything is possible, where the margin between doing something illegal and "informal" is super narrow and if you have enough and good contacts, the sky is the only limit. Despite of all these factors and even "faking" you are resident in the country + you are a qualified athlete, you could not get the citenzenship in less than 1 year and a half.

I have many Argentinian friends whose grandparents are/were from Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia and they have had to wait ages in order to get the passport, as well as getting under a long process in order to get all the documents and birth certificates. That's why I was too curious about this case.

Anyway, let's hope they have done everything right. I wouldnt like that later in the future, before an important tournent starts, another federation claims there were irregularities in the process and Melissa would be banned for a while. As it happened to Meliha.

Im truly surprised that Vargas got the Serbian citenzenship. Nothing bad at all with that, I even welcome these news because a player like her, deserves to be appreciated in the big stages. We know she is a good player, when her head is on, she is unstoppable and she has a lot of room for improvement. Nevertheless, I thought she would get the Turkish citenzenship. She has been playing in Turkey since 2018, but been there since 2017, paying taxes and all.

So...how did she (apparently) get the Serbian citenzenship? Even in the "not enough serious" countries, you have to be resident at least for 2 years and give a history and language exam. Sure, the easiest and fastest ways are to be married with an already citenzen or being the parent of one.

I know she is married, but I dont think her wife is Serbian citenzenship.

Quote from serdar

Now another question: who is the youngest volleyball player who attended to OG and who is youngest player won a medal in OG.

I'm guessing one of the Cubans? Or Artamanova? She was 17 when she attended her first OG

I think Gabriela Perez del Solar might be between the youngest ones. She was 16 yo, 18 days when she attended to Los Angeles 84.

Roslandy Acosta was 16 yo 6 months in Beijing 08.

Quote from Matthias

It definitely was. Sheshenina was just 19, Tishchenko had surgery on both knees just a few months before OG and she could hardly even walk normally, Tebenikhina was good in the slide attack but I don't think I've ever seen a MB worse in blocking than her on high level. 16 years later it's still a mystery to me how they did it. Sure, Sokolova and Gamova played the major role, but apparently it was one of the matches where Karpol would unfold his magic. And to be fair, in the final Russia played really really well and pushed China to the edge!

Totally agree. It reminds me a little bit the WCH 2006 final, where Brazil was by far superior than Russia in more than the half of the positions. Nevertheless, Russia did it again.

But in Athens, the gap was even bigger. With all the due respect to Sheshenina, she was galaxies far to the level and experiencie of Fernanda, as well as Fofao. Two setters with many tournments over them, many nerve-wrecking matches, etc. Tebenikhina was a ghost in block in that match, as well as Tishchenko. I am almost sure Sheshenina was the top blocker from the russian side. That the setter is your top blocker in a team as Russia...it meant a lot.

About bench, well, Brazil beat Russia by far too. Karpol only had Artamonova there, who was injured. I know volleyball isnt just played with tecnic, strength, etc, but also with the brain and how to hold the emotions. Karpol had many Olympic SFs over him, it cleared helped a lot his team. So funny he was still screaming to her players even when they came tied the game many times and then cool down.

And last, Russia was trashed 3-0 in the preliminary round by China. Despite of all the level gap, again in the setter position (please..Kun Feng vs Sheshenina ), Russia was just 2 points away from the gold medal.

PS: Was Elisangela injured?

Brazilian fans were really harsh towards Mari. She really didnt deserve all that hate and bashing. We shouldnt forget she was one of the youngest players in the squad, if Im not wrong, brazilian users feel free to correct me, she wasnt in any youth or junior NT, etc.

Despite of all that, she was the top scorer, her performance was was outstanding, 37 POINTS IN THE SEMIFINAL! I guess she still hold that record. And not only that, over 60% of spike efficiency

She wasnt the player who should carry the team over her shoulders in the clutch moments. Not at all. There were players 30 yo + with many Olympics in their CV. Im not sure, but I think Mari scored more than the half of Brazilian points in the tie-break, despite of the meltdown of the 4thset.

Brazil outspiked and outblocked Russia by faaaaaar.

In the other hand, Russia wasnt expected at all to arrive to the gold medal match. For me, it was an overachievement. Just to highlight that after Gamova (34 pts) and Sokolova (24) , the thid scorer was Plotnikova with 8 in a 5-set match.

I would have loved to watch a match between this Brazil and China. I would always remain a mystery.

I was in the way to post about that epic match too, BRA x RUS:

https://www.facebook.com/FIVBV…d/posts/10157510409069007

Finally I could watch this match full, and most important, high quality! I have watched this match with Portuguese, Chinese, Russian or English comments, but never full, with editions and so on.

One of the best matches I have ever watched live (well, on TV).

So much nostalgia from this vball level...the other SF (CHN x CUB) was also epic, but it got shadowed by the other one, which had much more drama. Oh Athens 2004...last Olympic with not only drama, but also high quality vball matches.

Quote from crovolley

I'm still going with Sweden. The most modern, richest country.

They know what are they doing. And their model for ME is the best one.

Belgium and Dutch are at lock down and they have double more death rate than Sweden.

Stress will do more damange in long terms than COVID.

Display More

Sweden is a good example in order to learn more about the corona virus crisis. But before giving an opinion, I strongly believe we have to see the whole forest, not just a tree. It means, not only the death rate or infected numbers. There are lot of variables and factors behind the Swedish case, as well as in every single country.

We should take on count not only the quality of the health system of each country in an pandemic, but also the demographics, the sociocultural factors, etc.

First, we have to see the "prepararedness". Sweden was considered between the top10 countries most prepared countries in the world in order to face a pandemic. We should also take in consideration not only the population of Sweden, and most important, its population density. That's a key difference with Belgium and the Netherlands.

And then, sure of course, we shouldnt forget the sociocultural factors.

In the other hand, we shouldnt forget that the world doesnt start and end in Europe. Sure most of the users are europeans here, but there are different worlds outside Europe.

There are a lot of countries whose health care system was already collapsed or in the brink of fall down way before the COVID19 crisis. Countries where you have to wait not days, but months in order to get a bed for a surgery, countries where a normal tuesday early morning you could see a huge queue for getting medicines, rearrange an appointment or even worse, wait in the corridor for a emergency bed.

Unfortunately, those countries cant have the privilege of underestimating the virus or see how it goes on.They must be drastic, "soviet" style in order to avoid the spread. They know they arent ready for this. This is why you can see that many of these countries have taken harsh measures even way before than Spain, Italy, USA, and so on. At least they have a bit time to "prepare" , watching the examples in Europe, but it is just a matter of time for the the total collapse. It is a chronicle of a death foretold.

I would also like to highlight that most of the population of these countries live "day by day", as I already mentioned in other post. If they dont work one day, they wont eat the following one. Despite of that, they are staying at home, waiting for a government aid that probably would never arrive. And also, watching how people from the so called first world countries go out and protest against the lockdown, while their nurses, doctors, police etc are risking their life to protect them.

Oh I really like this subject! Congrats!

I agree Molly Kreklow might be the biggest prospect that never was. Or at least, locked in the top 3.

Samara is another one. I remember her in the Southamerican Champhionship in 2008: she was simply amazing for her age. Such a good ball control! And she confirmed it in the WCH U18 the following year.

In that generation we could find many "prospects". As many have mentioned, there is Sara Klisura, Mari Horikawa, Hagglund, Haley Eckerman! I forgot her! She was a bomb in that WCH, as well as in the JWCH two years later. But too error prone. There is also Daniela Uribe, peruian MB/OPP. Damn good in U18 and U20. From that generation, there is also Ceren Kestirengoz. She was the heart of Turkey during that tournment.

And so many cubans. But for me, the biggest prospect was Rosana Giel.

Does someone know what happened with Sarah Petrausch? I remember she was a machine in the JWCH 2009. If Im not wrong, she was the top scorer of every single match Germany played.

😔

Some days ago Trump declared that his government will close the border with Canada due the people who live there wants to go to the States. This article explains detailed why nobody who lives in Canada would go to USA.

https://globalnews.ca/news/673…ew-york-canada-responses/

In the other hand, it really amuses me how a country like El Salvador, which is one of the poorest country in the region, has been one of the first country who took an early stand against COVID-19. This centroamerican country barred entry to nearly all foreigners, required a 30-day quarantine for Salvadorans arriving from other countries, suspended schools for three weeks, and halted gatherings of 500 people or more – all before it had registered a single positive case.

Likewise, they have just released new measures in order to relief the economic impact for people and businesses.

For a three-month period, affected parties will be exempt from payments for electricity, water, mortgages and personal loans, credit cards, telephones, cable and internet, among other services.

https://nationalpost.com/pmn/h…-those-hit-by-coronavirus

https://www.csmonitor.com/Worl…els-fears-of-an-iron-fist

Canada has decided to not send their teams to Tokyo 2020. They are the first country to take such a hard decision.

https://olympic.ca/press/team-…20-due-to-covid-19-risks/

I really dont understand why and how Lube is still training: http://dal15al25.gazzetta.it/2020/03/18/lube-in-palestra/

I know Le Marche (the region where Lube is from) isnt one of the most hit regions by the virus in Italy, but I strongly believe it is VERY RISKY. Juantorena said: "We dont give up! But there is few hope to resume the championship". So yes, there are still teams and player who have the (remote) hope that leagues could be reasumed.

Just as I feared, things arent going fine in Latin America. And, unfortunately, it didnt surprise me. We had so many days in order to organize a better prevention system, but it hasnt worked so far.

Just an example. Chile has been one of the last southamerican countries to close its borders, as well as one of the last to cancel flights from/to Europe and Asia and even, closing schools and universities. They only closed schools this Monday, when almost all their neighbours closed all the education institutions since 10 days ago.

Argentina and Peru are locked down since Monday. With locked down, I mean nobody cant come into/leave, not even nationals cant move from one city to another, just in emergency cases. You could only go to work if your job belongs to some (few) specific industries. The army is in the streets in order to control people respect these drastic measures. It is the only way people understand here. Not even a fee, straight to the jail if you dont hold an official certification.

Goverments took these measures because the lack of UCI beds per person is just astonishing. So, it is better to prevent.

Chilean government realize they reacted too late, so since tomorrow they are going to take even more drastic measure: 90-day state of catastrophe (https://nyti.ms/2Ude2R2). They had to do this because the cases are growing way faster than expected there.

Brazil is also another example. But I think their case has been already explained here. Mexico, it is pretty the same. The two sides from the coin.

I would only like to highlight that Latin America is a region where most of the population live the "day by day". Which means that if you dont work one day, it means you wont eat the next one. The reality is way different than in Europe, Northamerica or some Asian countries.

Governments here are trying to help that population, which, unfortunately, is the one who will suffer the most in this kind of situations.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-51913316