The Belgian head coach of the German national men’s team Vital Heynen released the list of players he will use for the upcoming 2013 European Championship in Denmark and Poland much earlier than any other national team coach.
From the initial list of nineteen players five have been dropped and will not travel to Maaseik, Belgium, where the team will start its preparation for the Euro 2013 at the end of September. The five players are Tom Strohbach (outside attacker, Generali Unterhaching), Simon Hirsch (opposite, Generali Unterhaching), Patrick Steuerwald (setter, Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia, Italy), Lukas Bauer (middle blocker, Arago de Sete, France) and Dirk Westphal (outside attacker, Jadar Radom, Poland).
“It is always to difficult when you have to make a decision only after eight days of trainings. Everyone did a good job and it is always challenging to cut the number of players. Overall we had a very good first week.” (Vital Heynen)
The 2013 World League
Based on the absence of Tischer, Schwarz and Grozer, not to mention the ones who took the summer off or had not been called up, almost the entire volleyball class struck Germany off the potentially dangerous teams. Heynen and his lads proved once more that Germany should never be underestimated. Surprisingly, till the very last weekend the Bundesteam had the mathematical chance to cast out the eventual League winner Russia. Unshackled from the expectations burden, the German team offered delivered a solid performance and finished on third position in Pool B, a point ahead of the defending European champion Serbia. A bit of luck and a lack of concentration deprived them of a stunning away win in Torino, but six points taken versus the young and green Cubans, a 3-1 win in Belgrade, a proud tie-break victory in Frankfurt against the mighty Russia and more than surprising straight-set success in Tehran against Iran helped Germany finish a respectable World League campaign.
Team performance has not been the only aspect Heynen could be satisfied with. When the bombardier Grozer, their most loaded attacker, announced he would miss the World League, I did not really expect anyone from this team to step ahead when it would matter the most. My bet was on Schoeps, who is known as a very clever and techically versatile opposite, but he rarely finishes a game with a spectacular number of points. He is rather the type of player, on whom you can count to finish a set point or to come on in from the bench and bring an attack diversity, but wouldn’t single-handedly beat an opponent – something that might be necessary for a young team like Germany. Something that is a trademark of Grozer. Well, Germany could not make it to Mar del Plata, but I think they found such a player. Denys Kaliberda was most of the time top scorer of the team and finished seventh overall in the individual scorers’ ranking, despite being an outside attacker. He did not impress too much in his first season abroad in the Italian Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia and used to appear shaky in some importants games ealier in his career, but I would give that to his youth. However, he was the man pulling Germany ahead all summer long. This is definitely good news for Heynen, who seems to have found his man at position four. Now that Gyorgy Grozer is back and training, you can be sure the Bundesteam will have something to say in Gdynia, where the likes of Russia, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic will arrive.
I would like to include a sentence about a debutant in the roster that has been having a very refreshing season so far. Not knowing what to do with his life only about three years ago, Philipp Collin walked a very thorny road up to the Bundesliga. Collin, Boehme and Broshog (and sometimes Fischer) took turns on the field in different weeks, but Collin impressed in a way that made the French Tours VB sign him for the new season.
The friendlies
After Maaseik Germany will travel to the neighboring Netherlands to play a series of three friendlies against the hosts (30th, 31st August and 1st September). Later on Heynen takes Germany in Poland for the Hubert Wagner Memorial (6th – 8th September). The opponents are the home side, Russia and again The Netherlands. Italy arrives in Germany for two friendlies (Nordhausen, 16th September, and Dessau, 17th September) for the last tests prior to the Championship.
EuroVolley is on and there is some news from group B. Italy had a short game against Switzerland and Belgium has shown their good side in match with France.
Italy – Switzerland 3:0 (25:13, 25:11, 25:13)
Italy: Diouf (18), Bosetti C. (7), Signorile, Costagrande (8), Guiggi (13), Arrighetti (8), De Gennaro (libero), Sorokaite (2), Bosetti L. Switzerland: Bannwart, Steinemann (3), Granvorka (4), Sirucek, Halter
Result of this game wasn’t surprise for us. As we expected, team from Italy won very quickly, without using too much strength. The most noticeable player was Valentina Diuof, who scored 18 points. The Swiss couldn’t deal with her wonderful actions and when we add their own mistakes there wasn’t any hope for triumph.
The coach of Switzerland, Svetlana Ilic has decided that his team need to change their usual formation to surprise opponents, but this brave move didn’t work. Italians very easy took control of the game, which was he result of very well playing in block (one of the best players in this element was Caterina Bosetti) and serve.
In the first set, the fight was on the same level – each teams played very well in atack, so many actions were finished in first hit. The main moment in this fight was block made by Christina Bauer, what helped France to win. It was the only triumph in this match for the French, because their opponents motivated themselves well and came back to game with all power. The best side of Belgians was attack, especially performed by van Hecke and Vandesteene.
Except African and European Championships also North and Central Americas with Caribbean (NORCECA zone) organised continental championships. In Langley, Canada 9 teams fought for title. United States won tournament in similar way as did it women one week earlier. Matthew Anderson was MVP of tournament.
1st Round Results:
Pool A United States – Saint Lucia 3-0 (25-12 25-10 25-11) Click Here: cheap INTERNATIONAL jerseyUnited States – Dominican Republic 3-0 (25-19 25-17 25-9) Dominican Republic – Saint Lucia 3-0 (25-19 25-12 25-23)
Semifinals: Canada – Cuba 3-0 (25-14 25-17 25-21) United States – Puerto Rico 3-1 (25-13 24-26 25-20 25-16)
Bronze Medal match: Cuba – Puerto Rico 3-2 (27-29 25-27 25-20 27-25 15-12)
Final: Canada – United States 0-3 (23-25 20-25 14-25)
Winner of tournmanet, USA will play in World Grand Champinos Cup in November, in Japan with host and other continental champions: Brazil (South America) and Russia (Europe). In upcoming days will be held Asian Championships, in United Arab Emirates (28th September – 6th October). As we can see, now 2nd strength in this zone is Canada. Cuba lost their position because of escapes of their best players. Interesting fact is also come back to NT by American outside hitter William Priddy, who presented quite good throughout this tournament.
Individual Awards: Most Valuable Player: Matthew Anderson (United States) Best Spiker: Andy Blanco (Guatemala) Best Scorer: Rolando Cepeda (Cuba) Best Blocker: Rudy Verhoeff (Canada) Best Server: Micah Christenson (United States) Best Setter: Micah Christenson (United States) Best Receiver: Blair Bann (Canada) Best Digger: Dennis Del Valle (Puerto Rico) Best Libero: Dennis Del Valle (Puerto Rico)
All-Star Team of tournament: Setter: Micah Christenson (United States) Opposite: Daniel Vargas (Mexico) Outside Hitters: Matthew Anderson, William Priddy (both United States) Middle Blockers: Rudy Verhoeff (Canada), Byron Ferguson (Bahamas) Libero: Dennis Del Valle (Puerto Rico)
Despite the regular season of Russian Superleague is starting next weekend, the official trailer of the best volleyball league in the world has already happened as the Super Cup struggle between Belogorie Belgorod (Champion & Cup of Russia) and Zenit Kazan (Cup finalist). This time, Belogorie also maintained the winning series defeating Zenit in thrilling tie-break in spite of losing already 0-2.
First set showed that home advantage means nothing when away team plays great. And, Zenit was great. It turned out that Nikola Grbic didn’t need much time to get along with his new teammates. With some amazing moves he left other players without block, and opponents could just watch how the ball smashes into their court. Zenit was constantly in lead, two to three points. On the other side Muserskiy tried to save Belogorie, but that was not enough. Sivozhelez’ serve ended everything (21:25).
The second set was much more excited. Zenit was the first to take some serious advantage. From 13:12 lead, they went to 17:12 and were on the right track to double set lead. But, then Grozer came to the service, and Belgorod was back in the game. With the German opposite on service home team reduced deficit to 21:20! Both team scored point after that, and then Belogorie had the biggest chance to equalize – a counterattack! But, Zenit block stood in the middle. That point resolved the set. Kazan squad got their confidence back and won next two points and with then the second set (21:25).
But that was not end of Belogorie. Champion of Russia showed in third set that surrender is not an option. Home team got an early lead (9:4), Zenit very quickly equalized on 10:10, but Belgorie made 5:0 series for another huge point difference. Then came the drama. Belgorod squad couldn’t withstand the pressure and away team equalized again on 22:22! But, Muserskiy came to the rescue. First middle blocker returned the lead to his club, and then with a fantastic serve created two set balls. Belgorod used the second one (25:23).
How can we describe the fourth one? Well the teams were closer than ever 17:17, 18:18, 19:19… But again Muserskiy was the man of difference. With him on service Belogorie got to 23:19! Zenit was just able to reduce to 24:23, but Grozer spike took this Supercup into a tie-break (25:23)!
And what a tie-break that was. Like a reflection of the whole match. Zenit opened it way better – 4:1, then 8:4. But, Belogorie again returned to game – 9:9. You think that is the moment when the turnaround happened? You are wrong. Zenit made three straight points (12:9), but won just one after that. Unbelievable home team made series to remember, mostly with fantastic blocking, and trophy of Russian Supercup stayed in Belgorod (15:13).
Azerrail-Azeryol 2-3 (22-25, 25-22, 25-22, 16-25, 8-15). The family match between Azerrail and Azeryol goes to the guests. It was a very intense and close battle. Azerrail played like a real team, letting all its players score and giving their best. On the other side Azeryol had to change very often to survive and the deepest roster made the difference.
Coach Vercesi found four aces from the bench: Silié and Rahimova soon and Di Iulio and Jones later crashed the home team. Many up and downs for both the teams. Many digs amazed both liberos. And both oppisites, Gurbanova and Rahimova, rocked the match. Polina Rahimova is definitely the MVP of the match: after she came in she showed how hungry she was, scoring 7 point in half a set, then she took her team on her shoulder in the rest of the match and with some help in the fourth set and an outstanding tie break (5 points) gave the victory to her time.
In the first set Azerrail starts with the usual starting six: Kitipova, Karic, Abdulazimova, Gurbanova, Robles, Rucker and Jeyran Aliyeva as libero of the team. Vercesi gives a chance to Parkhomenko and Matiasovska, with Vargas, Kozuch, Adina Aliyeva, Kovalenko and Thomsen as usual on court. It is soon a close start until the second technical timeout, then Azeryol goes faster: five blocks and Aliyeva unstoppable spikes (7 points in the first set) helps Azeryol to take the set 25-22.
In the second set the match totally changes its face: Azerrail girls, led by team captain Karic and Gurbanova, put the guests far behind. An amazing block and defense system gives so many troubles to Azeryol. A turned off Kozuch leaves the court, followed by Parkhomenko and Matiasovska; Rahimova, Silié and Di Iulio take their places. Di Iulio helps Aliyeva on the reception line, while Silié and Rahimova duo produces 7 points. Azeryor comes so close, but on the other side the trio Abdulazimova (3 blocks), Karic and Gurbanova did the job. 25-22 for Azerrail.
In the third set another fast start for Azerrail. Rahimova, Silié and Di Iulio start the set from the beginning, but it is not enough. No one can score in their team, just Rahimova has got 6 points, while everyone play amazing for Azerrail. Karic, Gurbanova and Robles keep killing the balls. Vercesi changes Di Iulio for Matiasovska, who becomes soon the target for the opponent service and 2 aces from Gurbanova send her back to bench. Then Jones comes in and something changes: Azeryol can touch more balls on the net, helping an amazing Thomsen to dig everything. Silié finds 3 aces in a row on Karic, but she has a crucial mistake on the 23-22, so Azerrail takes this heartbreaking set 25-22.
Jones takes definitely Kovalenko’s place on court from the fourth set. The block and defense system develops a lot. Azeryol can play much more as a team: Di Iulio has got 5 points, a disappeared Aliyeva shows she’s still there and a still good Rahimova sweeps away a scared Azerrail. Gurbanova is now alone, she scores 7 points, but nobody does the same by her side. Gasimova appears on court for the service ans she finds an ace, giving many other troubles to the opponents, but the key player of this set is Jones, with her 3 blocks and 3 spikes. The American is simply dominant on the net. 25-16 for Azeryol.
Tie break start is again very close. In the first half of the last set Gurbanova, once again, and Karic have 3 points each, breaking the equilibrium, 7-5 for Azerrail. Robles spikes out for the 8-5, and then Silié’s block impacts the set. The Cuban team captain goes to service, scoring 2 aces and giving may troubles to the opponent reception line. Rahimova is outstanding once again with her 5 points, while Aliyeva scores 2 more spikes and Jones has another block. It is an easy 15-8 for Azeryol.
25th, jubilee, FIVB World League edition came to an end. U.S National Team joined the milti-gold club (Brazil, Italy, and Russia) claiming second gold, Italy disappointed its fans, while Russia strongly underachieved. What made the victory and failures? The star summary will explain everything!
Gold medalist – USA
There has been written and said a lot about the Americans recently. Almost all of these opinions were positive in nature, and rightly so. It seems that John Speraw has finally found the proper compilation of the players that will give the U.S. a chance to return to the forefront of the best teams in the world. There have been many attempts to find the most favorable personnel variant. Position no. 4 was cast by a nominal outside-hitter, Matthew Anderson, and position no. 5 was planted by an unknown so far Taylor Sander. Olympic Champions from Beijing started off the World League contest with pep after winning 7 initial games in requiring the group with Russia, Serbia and Bulgaria. Mentioned Anderson and Sander turned out to be two leaders, who dragged the Americans to consecutive victories mostly in the attack. However, a slight ‘shortness of breath’ had to happen and they were forced to fight to the last ball assuring a spot in the Final 6 with ditch attempt having overcome Serbia on the last match of the regular phase. They already impressed a great serve, which naturally corresponded with the block and defense. In addition, American coaches have the ability to flesh their opponents very well. It was said that they have a mysterious and totally new analytical programs that allowed the Americans to perfect itemising of play ways proposed by all the teams, but it was not a decisive aspect predestinating of the triumph of U.S National Team in Florence, because execution of assigned tasks was burden of positive outcomes. Despite a debacle in the opening game, players of the USA got back to equilibrium conquering all next meetings. What was the key to win? Good reception? No, for the Americans were the worst in this element. Speed? MicahChristenson was passing relatively high and safe of sets on the wings. The U.S success has been built on the effectiveness of the wings, especially Anderson and Sander, as well as a pretty frequent use of the first tempo and gradual integration of the attacks from 6th zone. However, the most important role played, previously dished up, serve-block–defense system. Johan Speraw boys came by the World League in these three components separately and the whole complex as a whole, as evidenced by numbers. U.S. national team were ranked in 2nd place in blocking, done most number of rebounds, crushed all the statistics of the serve and also shone in defense (2 place). Ergo, this rather difficult art of getting good at these three volleyball components influenced the triumph of Americans, but is it enough to succeed in playing at the World Championships in Poland? Who know, however, it is extremely considerable corpus.
Starry summarize of volleyball details
Spiking after positive reception: ★★★★★★★★
High balls attack efficiency: ★★★★★★★★+
Counterattacks: ★★★★★★★★★
Serve: ★★★★★★★★★★
Block: ★★★★★★★★+
Digs: ★★★★★★★★
Block & defense: ★★★★★★★★★★
Reception: ★★★★★
Overall: ★★★★★★★★+
Silver medalists – Brazil
From hell to heaven, to finally end up in purgatory – this biblical metaphor illustrates properly the path that has been traveled by the Brazilians in this year’s World League. The group phase was quite a tribulation, points mendicancy, which was closed with a happy end for Bernardo Razende and his wards. The Canarinhos played poorly, unstable, ineffective, ugly, committing a lot of mistakes and thus recorded the worst beginning in the World League history. A fatal atmosphere was said to be out there and moreover, there appeared some coaching and players conflicts , which Brazilian medias mingled in that could not stand another embarrassing failures and perhaps, first of all, the style, showed by their compatriots. Brazil had huge problems with the serve, defense and spiking from the left wing. The first tempo was the only positive ingredient of their play, but that situation began to change and the Canarinhos won a ticket to Florence in the last round of the group stage, although at one point it seemed that they should have to forget about the finals. Bernardo Rezende silenced critics and was free to begin a fruitful preparation for the final tournament. The World Champions could not start better the struggling in Florence, as secured the semi-finals in the first match after defeating Russia. However, the positive image of the team after the first game has been considerably defaced in the next loser. Iran succeeded in wiping out Brazil in four sets, and the result could not have been a surprise, since Iran had already proved his superiority, though, it seemed that the Brazilians did not want to win this match which was associated with the elimination of Russia. This scenario was realized. Russia returned home, while Brazil took a fantastic semi-final against Italy. The host of the tournament had no chances. The Brazilians played the best game this season, impressing the block organization, attack efficiency and neutralization of Ivan Zaytsev. It was enough to advance to the finals, where he appeared sins of the past, such as uneven disposition of Wallace, lack of Murilo’s efficacy and average defensive. Bruno Rezende could rely only on middle-blockers, so if they want to defend the World Cup, the Canarinhos need to do strong work to improve quite significantly shortcomings. But Brazil is still Brazil.
Starry summarize of volleyball details
Spiking after positive reception: ★★★★★★★★+
High balls attack efficiency: ★★★★★★★
Counterattacks: ★★★★★★★+
Serve: ★★★★★★★
Block: ★★★★★★★★★
Digs: ★★★★★★
Block & defense: ★★★★★★★
Reception★★★★★★★★★
Overall: ★★★★★★★★
Bronze medalists – Italy
‘PR champions’ – this title may be given to the Italy national team after this year’s World League, which is not completed in accordance with their predictions and expectations. The Azzurri only took 3rd place despite having a much greater aspiration, but once again confirmed that they cannot cope with the hardships associated with the play in semifinals. But let’s logical order. An impressive entrance in the season, topped with six victories in a row and breakdown over Brazil aroused appetites of fans of the Apeninean Peninsula, because the Italians presented one of the more interesting styles in the World League, although highly risky (profitable in the beginning ) as it was based on the above-average Ivan Zaytsev disposition. A series of several spectacular victories meant that Italian activists could ideally consume the idea of the organization a volleyball match in the moonlight on the tennis court – Foro Italico. As it turned out later, the outdoor game against Poland was the last winning stage in group, as a coach, Mauro Berruto, ordained vacancies for his biggest stars, who returned to play in the last weekend, but were totally unprepared and without form. You cannot exclude the supposition that the decision of 2 week break for inter alia Ivan Zaytsev, Emanuele Birarelli or Simone Parodi had detrimental effect on their demeanour in finals held in Florence. It seems that the Squadra Azzurra did not play quite as good as games as it took place in the early phase of the main stage, although convincing victory over USA may have suggested different conclusions. After second win at the Nelson Mandela Forum, there has came a judgement day of semi-finals and all hopes of the Italians to 9th title snapped like a bubble, since the main weapon (Ivan Zaytsev), yet reliable, he could not even get the point in clear situations. It turned out that a new player Dinamo Moscow is not only salvation, but also a curse of Mauro Berruto’s team. When he is in good shape, everything is OK, but if he loses confidence, you can instantly see a dramatic decline in the quality of play of the team. This is a warning for the Italians, because IvanZaytsev may not be sufficient during the World Champs.
Starry summarize of volleyball details
Spiking after positive reception: ★★★★★★★+
High balls attack efficiency: ★★★★★★★+
Counterattacks: ★★★★★★★+
Serve: ★★★★★★★
Block: ★★★★★★★
Digs: ★★★★★★★
Block & defense: ★★★★★★★★
Reception: ★★★★★★+
Overall: ★★★★★★★
4th place – Iran
Iran‘s protrusion seems to be the biggest, a very pleasant surprise this season. You cannot respect opinions of people, who claim that their good game at the beginning and victories over top teams are sensational, and all preachers of such views show a normal lack of knowledge and impulses of the Arabian Peninsula for several years. Iran has regularly proved since 2011 that slowly open the door to the headquarters of the greatest teams in the world and the current World League edition is like crossing the symbolic threshold of the place. Persians impressed well shape from the very intercontinental phase beginning, when beat Brazil, Poland and Italy earned a characteristic style for themselves. An Iranian setter, Marouf, was ideally using wing-spikers, including numerous pipes, as well as incredibly effective middle-blockers. The strategy, developed by the coach Slobodan Koavac and implemented by Marouf, allowed to get a ticket for F6 to Florence, although Asian champions were no longer quite as smartly and murderously effective in the same finals. You could recognize that the Iranians were slowly losing their good form, and first of all, petered away, which was exampled in a weaker power and effectiveness of the attack, less the regular serve, and finally micro-injuries such as one of the best middle of the world – Sayed Mousavi. One element that has managed to maintain a good level throughout the season was a block and a cooperation between it and defense. Thus, the Iranians have been the best defending team in the Tuscan tournament. Saeid Marouf was observed to set play tempo above tactics and, what is more vital, above his teammates skills. When he saw that outside-hitters or ‘centers’ could not handle, he frequently manifested dissatisfaction with his behavior, shouting and doing the non-verbal work towards his friends. Despite the fact, Marouf was deservedly selected to best 7 of the tournament, while Iran was ranked just behind the podium, with the greatest success in history and will certainly be very dangerous at the World Championships in Poland.
Starry summarize of volleyball details
Spiking after positive reception: ★★★★★★★★+
High balls attack efficiency: ★★★★★★+
Counterattacks: ★★★★★★★+
Serve: ★★★★★
Block: ★★★★★★
Digs: ★★★★★★★★
Block & defense: ★★★★★★★
Reception: ★★★★★
Overall: ★★★★★★+
5th place – Russia
Russia still has to do a lot of hard work to think about September’s Championships as a chance to remain the best team in the world. At the moment, the facts are absolute and the Olympic champions lost another prestigious competition on the world stage and needs to confirm its quality, although it will not be easy, because competitors do not waste your time, while Sborna keeps expanding the national team players bench, claiming that they will not be able to prepare 2 form ‘summits’, in spite of having unlimited potential. History of this year’s World League reminds that from 2012, when Russia did not achieved promotion to the finals, but won the Olympic gold a few weeks later. This time, Andrey Voronkov gave a rest time for few important players during the first phase of the group stage, but Russia failed to win the qualification for the final tournament, but only for two matches. One point loss versus Iran and the failure against Brazil settled the Russians on the edge of the cliff, in which they were eventually pushed back by Canarinhos. However, it is not astonishing, if you lose your trademark – serve. In Florence, Russia presented a particularly poor in this element. It is worth saying that they were able to perform only 6 aces in 15 sets, which made them the worst the serving team at the Final Six tour. Receivers, Denis Biriukov, Alexey Spiridonov or Sergey Savin did not raise the challenge especially in attack and Sergey Grankin was forced to build the offensive strategy based on lonely Nikolay Pavlov and Dimitriy Muserskiy. Grankin was not spoiling his colleagues via precision and ingenuity. Russia had exactly no stable points and that is why had to go home right after the 3rd day of the tournament.
Starry summarize of volleyball details
Spiking after positive reception: ★★★★★★★
High balls attack efficiency: ★★★★★★
Counterattacks: ★★★★★★
Serve: ★★★★
Block: ★★★★★★★
Digs: ★★★★★★★
Block & defense: ★★★★★★★
Reception: ★★★★★★★
Overall: ★★★★★★+
6th place – Australia
The presence in the World League finals was a remarkable achievement for the whole volleyball environment in Australia, especially taking into account the fact that Jon Uriarte’s charges lost 7 of 12 games in the intercontinental stage. Fortunately, they had handicap in the form of the ’waiting room’ final tournament (2nd division) in Sydney, where the Australians overcame all, including Belgium and especially France, despite the hosts were the lowest evaluated before the start of the game. In the final match, the Volleyroos tackled France, beating them in 5 sets clinch and thrilling tie-break. Australia used the fullness of his quality and all own assets. Perhaps there were not many, but they have been fine-tuned to perfection. The descendants of Aboriginal specialize the block setting up and they could even give lessons to many stronger teams in this volleyball secret. If you have such a center as Aiden Zingel, you do not have to worry about the stability of the formation and then a good defense. However, block and defense rarely provide victory. You need to have the wings ones gathering points in the attack. Australia had one, Thomas Edgar, who was cleaning all complicated actions, even though he had no support two other outside-hitters. There is a saying: ‘You should cut your coat according to your cloth’, ergo Australia showed off all what was best and it was enough to surprise France. The French went on a 3-week convalescence pf their nervous system when the Kangaroos set off on a journey to Italy. In Florence, so predictable solutions in the offensive could not afford to playoffs advance. Having lost two games, the Volleyroos have been ranked in 6th place, gained promotion to the elite for the new season and achieved the biggest success in history, which probably will have a beneficial effect on the volleyball in the Antipodes.
Sometimes things seem so grey. Sometimes you have to let time just pass by. Sometimes you are tired of waiting. Sometimes you just get bored.
What are you going to do? Just sitting there waiting? Or going to do something interesting?
Isn’t this the life question of all the times – to feel the negative or the search for the positive?
If you are missing on ideas, then just do what the team of Knack Roeselare did at the Brussels Airport. The players got bored but instead of looking pissed off, they decided to have some fun and dance at the airport.
Watch the interesting video and do not forget to do something like that the next time when you are waiting for your flight. 🙂
Little is known about volleyball in Africa but that is about to change! The Kenya Women’s volleyball team made history this year in the FIVB World Grand Prix that took place in July and August. The Malkia Strikers, which in translated means queens of volleyball, broke their 20 year jinx by winning their first games at any FIVB world competition. They beat Mexico 3-1, Algeria 3-0 and Australia 3-2 in what is a first for any African women’s team.
Kenya broke into the volleyball scene in 1987 at the All African Games held in Nairobi where they beat all odds to grab the silver medal in their maiden continental competition losing to Egypt on home ground an in front their then President Daniel Arap Moi. They however avenged this by winning the pan African edition in Egypt held in 1991 where they beat Egypt before their home crowd. The country has never looked back since then taking part in all the Major FIVB tournaments including the World Cup, World championships as well as the Olympics and quite recently the World Grand Prix.
They have however been unable to win any game to date but have come close in several occasions going down 3-2 to Costa Rica in the 2006 World Championships and 3-2 to Peru in the 2007 World Cup.
The girls overcame all odds including poor training conditions sometimes being forced to train out doors to pull a memorable stunt that had the whole nation speaking. Their enthusiasm and dedication cannot be matched. They may be technically weaker than most European, Asian and American teams but they make up for this in shear strength and determination.
Kenya also produced the top scorer in the first two rounds, Mercy Moim, who is an outside hitter. They narrowly missed the final round as they had tied with Kazakhstan in everything including set ratio.
Kenya has come of age!! Believe me, Africa is the next frontier of power volleyball that was previously shown by the Cubans! Kudos to the Malkia Strikers!
For many enthusiasts wagering on volleyball have turned into one of the most preferred ways to spend their free time. More and more people decide to go for this particular form of entertainment that can also bring them a nice profit. If you are still a total rookie at sports betting, you should definitely acquaint yourself with terms such as odds and probabilities and the way they work due to the fact that these are the stepping stones to placing successful bets.
In fact, odds will provide you with a clearer picture of the particular volleyball event you are planning to place your bet on as well as of the value of your real-money bets. It should be noted that there are three ways of expressing odds that include decimal, fractional, and American odds.
Decimal Odds
The decimal format indicates the potential return after you have placed a successful bet including your stake. In essence, this is the easiest way to compare the lines offered by the different sites for betting. In order to estimate the return, you will need to stick to the formula odds x stake = return that includes your initial stake. In other words, if the odds for the volleyball event you are planning to wager on are 2.1 and you wager £100, a successful bet will bring you £210.
Fractional Odds
As their name implies, fractional odds are expressed with fractions that look like this ½, ⅔, and so on. The major difference between fractional and decimal odds is that the latter will show your profit, including the initial stake you have placed, whereas fractional odds indicate the amount you may win, depending on the size of your bet. If the volleyball event you have decided to wager on comes with 2/1 odds, this will mean that you will get back two units as long as you wager one. Odds of 3/1, for example, will mean that you should wager one unit in order to receive three. As it turns out, this way of expressing odds is slightly confusing for many gambling enthusiasts. That is why most of them prefer utilizing the decimal format.
American Odds
American odds or money line as they are also known is yet another way of expressing odds. This time, they are expressed with positive and negative numbers. The positive number will show you your potential profit after you have wagered £100, whereas the negative ones will show how much money you should wager in order to get £100 profit. It is worth noting that you should not necessarily wager an amount that is equal to the money line. If the money line is negative, you should follow the formula (100/odds) x stake. If the money line is positive, however, the formula will be (your stake/100) x odds.
Probabilities
If you want to keep on evolving as a punter, you should also learn more about the way probabilities are calculated.
Let’s take a coin-toss game as an example. As we all know, the coin can land on heads or tails, which makes the probability 1. When you have decided which outcome to favor, let’s say, for example, tails you will definitely want to find out what is the probability for this to happen. In order to do so, you should follow this equation: your favored outcome/all possibilities, which in our case will mean that the probability is 0.5.
Most of the punters prefer using percentages as they give them the chance to estimate probabilities easier. If we take the probability which in our case is 0.5 and we multiply it by 100%, this will mean that the chances for the coin to land on tails are 50%.
If we take, for example, a volleyball match in which the odds for one of the teams are 4/6, whereas the odds for the other team are 4/1. How can we estimate the probabilities here? If you are presented with 4/6 odds, this will mean that you should add up 4 and 6, which sums up to 10. Then, you should divide 10 by 6, thus getting 1,6 which should be multiplied by 100. Thus, you will eventually get 60%, which will represent your chances of winning if you decide to support the team in question. This is how the formula looks like: (a+b) /b x 100 = your chances of winning.
Retour sur le grand écran pour Marshall Mathers, alias Eminem, avec “Southpaw”, drame dans lequel le rappeur se fera boxeur.
[Mise à jour du 12/08/2011 : Le projet, dont le tournage devait débuter en janvier prochain, vient de subir un important coup d’arrêt avec le retrait de Dreamworks (rapporté par Deadline), sans explication officielle. Du coup, l’équipe de Southpaw (dont le réalisateur embauché, Antoine Fuqua – voir l’article) se voit désormais dans l’obligation de (re)trouver un studio / un financement pour continuer le développement du projet.]
[14/12/2010 :] Alors qu’il s’apprête selon toute vraisemblance à triompher aux prochains Grammy Awards avec son dernier album (Recovery), on apprend qu’Eminem, disparu des écrans depuis le pourtant réussi 8 Mile, devrait également faire son comeback au cinéma dans un projet intitulé Southpaw (“Fausse patte”). Le pitch du film a été optionné par Dreamworks (et par son actuelle vice-présidente, qui avait déjà soutenu 8 Mile lorsqu’elle travaillait chez Universal), le premier jet du scénario devant être rédigé par le créateur de Sons of Anarchy Kurt Sutter d’ici février (soit avant que ce dernier ne commence à se pencher sur la quatrième saison de la série). Le film se présente – de nouveau – comme une évocation de la vie du rappeur, mais cette fois-ci au travers du destin d’un boxeur dont la vie s’effondre, le récit se concentrant sur le combat de ce champion du monde pour retrouver sa gloire évanouie. Histoire d’être encore plus précis, on vous traduit quelques déclarations éclairantes du scénariste, lues sur Deadline :
“J’ai eu des rendez-vous avec l’équipe de Marshall au cours des sept dernières années, en cherchant quelque chose à faire ensemble. Je sais qu’il est très sélectif et ne se disperse pas. Mais il a tant partagé de son combat personnel avec cet album brut, très honnête, qui me touche à bien des niveaux. Il s’intéresse beaucoup au genre du film de boxe, et cela semblait une métaphore appropriée, parce que sa propre vie a été une bagarre. D’une certaine manière, ce film est la continuation de l’histoire de 8 Mile, mais plutôt qu’une biographie au sens littéral, nous narrons de façon métaphorique le second chapitre de sa vie. Il jouera un champion du monde qui tombe vraiment très bas, et doit se battre pour retrouver sa vie, pour sa fillette. Au cœur du film, on trouve une nouvelle narration des luttes qu’il a menées ces cinq dernières années, usant de l’analogie du boxeur. Cela me plaît que le titre se réfère au fait que Marshall est gaucher, ce qui dans le milieu de la boxe revient à être blanc dans le milieu du hip hop ; dangereux, mal-aimé et absolument pas orthodoxe. La route est bien plus ardue pour une fausse patte que pour un boxeur droitier.“