13th July 2008
Yokohama (Japan)


Fisrt of all, I have to make clearer that the only aim of my personal “Chunk Ranking” is to identify the team endowed with the bigger “Chunk”.

(For a detailed explanation of Chunk WATCH HERE).

Having a bigger Chunk means to deal with a lot of information as a single unit of perception. Obviously, the victories depend on many other factors, as technical skills, physical conditions, right emotional approach an so on.
Lastly, I tried to identify the “Team’s Chunk” and not the “Individual Chunk”, given that the Volleyball performances depend mainly on the level of sharing of individual abilities.

Below you can see the Chunk Ranking of the 2008 WGP Final Round


BRAZIL is by far the best team. They react correctly almost ever, as dealing with complex options as with plain situations. The Brazilian players seemingly process effortless a huge amount of data. All the players are able to follow highly developed strategies in all the fundamentals and their lowest performance level is pretty high. Therefore, Ze Roberto’s players rarely suffer a long losing streak.

ITALY ranked second, although they played quite bad. But, as I have written above, the final result depends on many aspects. The physical conditions, due to the planning of Barbolini, weren’t good but they strived for the best. Regarding the Italian Chunk, I think that this ability isn’t as dynamic as others conditions. The fitness and the willpower are subject to cyclic up and down, the technical and tactical skills are more steady indeed. The chunk is like the writing ability: we never lose the writing ability, but our writings aren’t always as we would like.
Likewise, the Volleyball players never forget passing or receiving, but often other condition make harder to play at their usual level.

USA placed at the third position. By tradition, the North-Americans Volleyball players took advantage of deep statistical studies and they are used to deal with a lot of information. However, I put them in the third position because the statistical data are only a part of the game. These US players aren’t extremely talented and sometimes they manage easily the statistic information failing to perceive “the deeper sense of game”.

CHINA AND JAPAN shared the forth and fifth positions. Please, note that it doesn't mean that China and Japan are equally skilled! The Chinese Volleyball value is definitely higher than Japanese although the Chunk is quite the same. Chinese and Japanese, pay for their autarchy (all the athletes play with clubs in their own country) missing the comparison with different mentalities and habits. Moreover, China and Japan, like most oriental countries, are familiar with a learning system which relies principally on imitation, the quickest way of assimilation. Thus, they can rely on a lot of “ready-made” options and they are totally in control of the match if it follows a regular path. But they are unable to quickly change their mind if the match exits from the usual trail.

CUBA placed sixth but they won the second place here, in Yokohama! The coaching autarchy and the unbelievable physical skills inhibited the growth of Cuban chunk. Cuba is a very strong team, but their data processing aptitude is really weak. Since the nineties, when they won three Olympic Games in a row (1992, 1996, 2000) relying on astonishingly talented players, Cuban Volleyball followed the same patterns: serve and spike as powerfully as possible. These athletes aren’t so excellent to win as much as the former Cuban athletes were. At the same time, the good results they achieved, don’t force the coaches to search for new ways.


Below you can see the true Final Ranking (the only significant Standing) with my opinion about their performances.


+ means that they played BETTER than I expected

= means that they played EXACTLY as I expected

- means that they played WORSE than I expected



Bye bye andrea zorzi

12th July 2008
Yokohama (Japan)

[…Now we have to play two matches because they are important for the final of the Grand Prix and to improve as much as we can until the start of the Olympic Games. Two defeats in a row...it is a long time since we have had this experience...]

These are the words that yesterday Barbolini calmly said after the defeat against Japan. Many things were unpredictable in that overcome: the overpowering Japanese supremacy, the passive Italian approach, the incapability of doing even the simplest plays and, last but not least, the Italian coach’s reaction.
I have never seen Barbolini truly angry, but after such a defeat I would have expected a stronger reaction.

I tell you what happened to me in a similar circumstance in 1996.

The Italian Men’s Volleyball team, was playing the World League Final Round in Rotterdam (Holland) a few weeks before the Atlanta Olympic Games.
During the Preliminary Round, we lost 3-0 playing really poor against China. Immediately after the match, Julio Velasco, our coach, went into the changing room and resolutely said: “Follow me, everybody”.
He went out and we all, slightly abashed, followed our coach. After a short walk through unknown hallways, we reached the … Press Conference room.
The FIVB protocol contemplates the presence of the two coaches, the two teams’ captains and, eventually, another player per team, if requested by the journalists.
Therefore, the journalists, the Chinese coach and captain were astonished seeing such a crowd walking into the Press Conference room.
Then, we spent at least 10 minutes searching for the needed chairs to sit down. Even longer, it was settling up so many seats in the small space available behind the table. And when everything was ready, Velasco said to the journalists: “Ask them why they played so poor”.
We answered muttering something about our wrong approach and willpower dropping and we quickly left that uncomfortable room. A few minutes later, when we were alone in the changing room, we let out all our rage. We promised that, as soon as possible, we would have paid back Velasco for that unbearable affront.
Almost all the coaches think that a group of men would bound together to pay back a such disrespect.
That was Velasco’s strategy to manage that unexpected overcome.

But a group of women wouldn’t have reacted in the same way.

On this subject take a look at Perdomo’s video-interview (I post it tomorrow) where he say: men are “mathematics”, women are “sentimentalists”.

Barbolini well knows the women Volleyball World and his soft and smooth strategy was the right one. Today the “azzurre” played consistently beating the US team. It wasn’t an easy match and they had to fight hard playing long lasting rallies. But differently from the previous days, they kept on striving for the best to improve for the Beijing Games.

Tomorrow, as I promised, I write the teams’ chunks ranking (WATCH HERE) which could be much different from the Final Standing of this WGP Final Round.

Bye bye andrea zorzi

11th July 2008
Yokohama (Japan)

Just before the beginning of the WGP Final Round, it was tricky indeed to forecast which team would have played better. China, Brazil and Italy were the main candidates to the final victory, but also Cuba and USA were potentially strong competitors. Only the Japanese team was considered, by myself, without any winning chance.

After the third day, the actual conditions of each team are emerging clearly and Brazil is definitely the leading actor.

In the first day the victory of the South Americans over the US team, revealed the excellent conditions of Ze Roberto’s team and the physical and technical uncertainty of Lan Ping’s squad.

The long lasting match (ended 3-2) between Italy and China kept concealed the real teams’ value coached by Barbolini and Chen. I was misled by the match balance, failing to recognize the signs of their poor conditions.
In the third match the Cuban success on Japan, confirmed the well known Caribbean powerful and the Japanese willpower.

The second day swept away many doubts: the effortless Cuba’s victory on China, was a clear evidence of the poor physical shape of Chen’s team. In only three sets, the Cuban scored 20 block points over the slow and less efficient Chinese spikers.

In the second match Brazil overwhelmed Italy displaying a supremacy in all fundamentals. Italian teams didn’t lose so badly since last year. The missing of the middle blocker Gioli and swing hitter Del Core, couldn’t be an adequate explanation and to say the truth, nobody in the Italian camp said anything like this.

The worries of US team as well, were confirmed by the long and balanced match won against Japan, an up and down match full of errors (by the North American side mainly).

And today Brazil got the third victory in a row, topping 3 –1 the submissive and sluggish China.
Ze Roberto, the Brazilian coach, was oddly worried screaming ceaseless throughout the game, although the match was almost ever under Brazilian control. During the press conference after the match, he kept on remembering that his team is not playing so good, that they are doing many mistakes, that the biggest aim is performing good at the Olympic Games.
He fears to have reached too early a good shape and he knows that is not easy to maintain the indispensable will power, if the successes are undemanding.
Paradoxically, the loss of the third set was welcomed by Ze Roberto, so his remarks after the match could be better understood by the players.

Cuba is the only likely obstacle between Brazil and his seventh WGP title. Considering the historical turbulent fights between the Cuban and Brazilians, tomorrow morning we’ll attend a tense match. Perdomo’ athletes will play relying on the nervous resources rather than challenging the Brazilians on technical and tactic skills.
To explain better what it means “relying on the nervous resources”. Today after the match, the Cuban setter Ramirez argued with one of her teammates and she slapped the Cuban spiker (the astonished Calderon).  

Going back to Volleyball, there is another reason which makes the match between Brazil and Cuba truly interesting . Usually, the Cuban powerful athletes overpower the opponents or they give up submissively. Today, they tied up the match seemingly lost. They played with consistency and reliability, even when the North American players dug, blocked and hit smartly making longer and hard fought each rally.

If tomorrow the Cuban players will perform as they have done today, they will be much more than a mere obstacle for Brazil.

Bye bye andrea zorzi

10th July 2008
Yokohama (Japan)

In 1998, when FIVB introduced the Libero, one of the biggest aims was to give the “short” Volleyball player the chance to be part of a top international team. Volleyball and Basketball are sports in which the athletes’ height is very significant. But in Basketball, the play-makers can be really short, relying on their superior speed. In Volleyball, no available positions offered an authentic advantage for the smaller players, so the Libero was set up.

At the beginning, all the coaches picked out the shorter swing hitters, gifted in back row fundamentals, to perform in the new position. Only after many years, we welcomed the first generation of Liberos born with its own identity and not commuted from other roles.

Many rules had to be settled, to avoid the Libero performing as a setter or additional spiker. For instance: it’s a foul hitting over the net a Libero’s set (if done within the three-meter area) and the Libero cannot spike the ball over the net in any positions.

In just a few years, the new role became crucial and the coaches had to deal with a new issue: the Libero’s substitution. By Volleyball’s rules, there can be only one Libero per team and he or she can be replaced only in case of injury. When this happens, it usually spoils the teams’ performance because the teams don’t have any other player skilled enough to replace the starting Libero. After many requests from the coaches, FIVB during the last World Congress took the following decision:

the General Assembly unanimously approved an important change in Volleyball rules of having up to 14 players in each team, with a compulsory two libero players on the list. FIVB President Dr. Rubén Acosta said the rule change, which is an increase from 12 players and will not allow both liberos on-court at the same time, will be mandatory for all competitions starting from January 1, 2009. Confederations and National Federations will be free to implement the rule after the Olympic Games.

Even before this important change, some coaches played with a sort of “double Libero”.
During the 2007 World Cup, the U.S. team employed Stacy Sykora as “defence specialist” and Nicole Davis as official Libero. Here in Yokohama,  the coachLang Ping  switched the roles: Sykora as "LIbero" and Davis as  “defence specialist”.
The Italian team as well, in the 2007 European Championship and during this WGP Final Round, is playing with Paola Croce as “defence specialist” and Paola Cardullo as libero.
By rule, it’s impossible to line up two Liberos, therefore the “defence specialist” is subject to the regular substitution rules rather than to the special rules of libero. So the “defence specialist” plays only a small number of rallies each set, making this choice a risky strategy that only a few coaches dare carrying out.
Particularly, the Italian team can rely on the starting opposite Aguero, able to pass (if needed), and the opposite Ortolani who plays also as a swing hitter. If necessary, they may share the charge of passing or spiking.
Thus Barbolini, the Italian coach, decided to play this tournament relying on 3 spikers, 3 middle-blockers, 2 opposites, 1 Libero and 1  defence specialist (plus 2 setters obviously) when usually, a team roster reckons on 4 spikers, 3 middle-blockers, 2 opposites and 1 Libero (plus 2 setters).

- Which strategies will the coaches choose with the new rule that made compulsory two libero players on the list of 14 players? 
- Will the coaches line up again the “defence specialist” in addition to the two liberos?
- Will the thirteenth player be a spiker, a middle-blocker or a new “specialist” still unknown?


What happens today:

The second day of the WGP Final Round is distinguished by the overpowering victories of Cuba and Brazil over China and Italy.
Italian and Chinese teams seemed weary and confused. I never saw on the Chinese and Italian players' faces the fighting spirit required to be competitive.
The Cubans played an astonishing powerful match in attack and block confirming their peculiarity.
The Brazilians, as well, confirmed their own characteristic displaying a consistent, balanced and willing game. As a matter of fact, Brazil is quickly running to reach his seventh victory in the WGP.

After two surprising victories, the third match was very long. Each rally has been hard fought and only after five sets the Us team overcame the spirited Japanese team.


Bye bye andrea zorzi

9th July 2008
Yokohama (Japan)


First of all, it might be useful reporting the Merriam-Webster definition of chunk: a short thick piece or lump (as of wood or coal).

Now, I have to explain which kind of chunk I mean: the term chunk indicates memory structures that can be used as units of perception and meaning, and chunking is the learning mechanisms leading to the acquisition of these chunks.

“A man just beginning to learn radio-telegraphic code hears each dit and dah as a separate chunk. Soon he is able to organize these sounds into letters and then he can deal with the letters as chunks. Then the letters organize themselves as words, which are still larger chunks, and he begins to hear whole phrases." Thus, a telegrapher can effectively "remember" several dozen dits and dahs as a single phrase.

…recoding (recoding not recording) is an extremely powerful weapon for increasing the amount of information that we can deal with".

*This is the Wikipedia quotation explaining the meaning of chunk in cognitive psychology and mnemonics.


Chunks are crucial in Volleyball as well because each player has to deal with a lot of information and the capacity of recalling the chunks makes for quicker choices, avoiding the analysis of each situation from scratch.

Try to put yourself in the shoes of a Volleyball middle blocker, while his team-mate is serving.

He’s looking at the opponent side but from the sound of the hand hitting the ball, he can identify the kind of serve. Then, just looking at the position of the opponent passer, he can cut out many possibilities, making his decision easier. The stronger players don’t need to see where the pass will arrive because they anticipate the passing trajectory just by processing the data they quickly recognize.

After that, the middle blocker will focus on the opponent setter’s choice. Dealing with the information available from the previous statistical studies and the present situation, he can clearly identify the remaining possibilities. For instance, if the pass is far from the net, the threats coming from the quick attack suddenly disappear.

Then the middle blocker will focus on the opponent spiker evaluating the setting speed, the ball distance from the net, the spiker approaching, the position of his blocking mate, his own position and so on …

The athletes ceaselessly keep on with this process throughout the match, striving to be in the best position to reduce the effect of their adversaries’ plays.
Obviously, the more possibilities for opponents, the more difficult it is reacting correctly when dealing with these extra options. Volleyball is a continuous challenge in predicting what the opponent is trying to keep unpredictable.

So let’s check the size of the chunks of the teams playing the 2008 World Grand Prix Final Round.

Predictably, all these squads are well-gifted but as soon as I focused on the individual players’ chunks I discovered another kind of chunk, the collective one. The players are endowed of individual skills but team performance relies mainly on the level of sharing of individual abilities.

The old adage “in the desert, the caravan speed depends on the slowest camel” fits perfectly.

Evaluating the chunk size of the teams is more complex than I expected, therefore I’ll ask for help from Volleyball coaches attending this Final Round and, in the next few days, write the teams’ chunks ranking.

Bye bye andrea zorzi

8th July 2008
Yokohama (Japan)

Once upon a time, when the world was still divided in … don’t worry I’m joking.

I really don’t want to start from the very beginning but, many years ago, when I was a young Volleyball player (in the middle of eighties), the Olympic year was wholly dedicated at to the preparation for the Olympic Games tournament.
Even the clubs belonging to former Soviet Union didn’t take part at the Champions Cup (the tournament played by the clubs winner of the National Championship), since they practiced as the national team during the winter too.

In that period the World Grand Prix and World League were still a dream and the National Club League were much less organized; therefore, the coaches of the national teams had a lot of time to practice.
I clearly remember the long time spent in isolate places among the mountains practicing hard and the even longer tournées around the world playing tens of friendly matches.
In those days, the national team players live together for long time and the coaches could dedicate a lot of time to the individual improvements, teaching also Volleyball fundamentals.

From then on, Volleyball increased its worldwide attractiveness enhancing the economic interest and achieving the organization of the World Grand Prix and the World League. At the same time, the national Leagues developed their performance and the clubs tournaments became interesting for many fans and sponsor.
The first consequence was the remarkable increasing of the matches played during the year. Thus the teams' schedule was completely filled up.

Nowadays coaches don’t have long time on their hands to work calmly. They have to give the players time to rest, they have to find the time to work out and to enhance the technical level of the athletes defining priorities accurately.

Last but not least, they have to shape everything on the biggest aim that, this year, is definitely the Olympic tournament.

That’s why the first interview I publish in the Follow me 2008 Edition is about the coaches’ opinion on this subject.

The Italian coach Massimo Barbolini and Chinese coach Zhonghe Chen answered the following questions:


1) What is the biggest aim of your team in this year?
2) How have you planned this full season?
3) Which was the biggest difficulty to overcome until now?
4) Have you reached the expected target so far?
5) Playing the WGP Final Round a few days before the Olympic Games, could be a risk for the team performance in Beijing?
6) Who is the favourite to win the gold medal in Beijing?

To watch the video clic HERE or on the picture above

Bye bye andrea zorzi