After three and half year, Andrea Giani said goodbye to his team BluVolley Verona. The Italian coach resigned from his function after a painful defeat in Coppa Italia against Biosi Indexa Sora.
For some, it could have been a spontaneous decision, made under negative emotions caused by the surprising defeat, but the truth is that the tension inside the team was growing for at least the past month. – We have started the championship pretty well. We won against teams we had to and we lost just one match in tiebreak, against Piacenza. – admitted Giani. – Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to create the team spirit. This was extremely important. To be able to win or even to try and compete against teams from the top of the table like Modena or Civitanova we needed this kind of connection.
After the victory 3:0 against Revivre Milano, the team of Giani faced four games versus the best teams of the Superlega. Unfortunately for the players from Verona, all four finished without them being able to win even a single set. On top of that, the team also was beaten by Vibo Valentia at home 2:3, ending November with a disappointing record of 0 victories and 5 defeats. – My already former team, needed a shock, an inside earthquake, something had to shake them to change the road the team has been on for a while. – said Giani.
The situation sparked rumours about the team not being able to find good connection between them. The club reacted immediately by locking the team away for a week, away from families and media, and explaining it is the best way to find the team spirit. – The idea maybe wasn’t so ba. After the defeat against Perugia we moved into a hotel. It looked like a mini camp. We were together 24/7 for a week, practised, ate and tried to build better relations – explains Giani.– The problem in my opinion is that all these kind of movements make sense only if people are actually willing to take part in the change, if they try to improve the relations. I think this was the reason why it didn’t work for us.
Giani is not afraid to admit that he feels responsible for the defeats and that recent results have not been a consequence only of the lack of connection between the players. – Of course I’m responsible for the fact that I couldn’t find the identity of this team and bring it to life. I’m not going to deny it. But at the same time my staff and I worked extremely hard to find a solution for this team and none of the ideas worked out.
After leaving Verona, Giani returned to his family house in Parma, where as he said, he is going to stay at least until the New Year. – Right now I am going to enjoy the festive time of Christmas together with all my family. After the New Year I will come back to volleyball and to the arenas, not only to watch volleyball, but also to carry on learning and improving myself as a coach. There are many coaches I want to learn from during their practices.
The former coach of Verona has never stayed long time without work, but right now is not going to rush into a new challenge. – What I am certain is that I will carry on working with a national and a club team next year. But before I can disclose any particular names I need to make sure that the potential project and my expectations meet in the middle.- concluded Giani.
Article by Ania Wiecek
Photo source: www.oasport.it
