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Born in 1960 in
Montpellier, France, Philippe Blain
has led his country to several
considerable achievements since he was
appointed France's head coach. The
French side advanced to the World
League finals in 2001 for the first
time, a result that was again repeated
in 2002. Also last year in Argentina,
Blain's team pulled off a major
surprise to stamp his colorful young
team as officially elite after their
3-0 dismissal of Olympic champions
Yugoslavia in the bronze medal match.
Although France's performance at
the 2003 World League was less than
satisfactory, their silver medal
performance at the European
Championship proves that Blain can get
the best out of his talented squad and
don't be surprised to see them shine
again at the 2003 World Cup.
Blain was a regular member of the
French national squad in major
international competitions throughout
the 1980s. The former receiver-spiker
played for his country at two World
Championships, four European
Championships and at the 1988 Seoul
Olympics. He was awarded the best
player at the 1986 World Championship
in France. Since he began his coaching
career in 1991, Blain was in charge of
various French and Italian clubs,
including AS Cannes, Arego Sets and
Alpitour Cuneo. He has been a member
of the FIVB Coaching Commission since
1999.
 Italian
Coach
Gian Paolo Montali
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Gian Paolo Montali
was chosen to replace former coach
Andrea Anastasi and lead Italy's
national team to the 2003 World
League following more than
disappointing results in 2002. The
most successful team in the
history of the competition managed
only fourth place in 2002 and
things got even worse for the once
invincible Squadra Azzuri at the
World Championship in Argentina,
where they finished only fifth.
Montali's recipe to revert the
downhill course seems to be
simple: "Attitude, attitude,
attitude," he said, underlining
that he expected all his star
players to dedicate themselves to
every competition, match, set and
even rally. Montali has already
scored a string of achievements in
his country where his teams from
four cities already won five
different championships and he has
seen some improvement already in
the Italian national team under
his wing when they claimed bronze
at the 2003 World League and won
the European Championship in
September. The coaching of the
national team is a great challenge
for him, he said. He intends to
focus on the 2004 Olympics in
Athens, which, in his view, is the
best way to motivate his team and
to show how powerful they can be.
(Photo credit to
www.volleymilano.it)
Japanese
Coach
Mikiyasu Tanaka
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The 48-year-old Mikiyasu Tanaka
was appointed to the senior
coaching position for Japan's
national team in 2001. His team's
priority is to qualify for Athens
2004 after Japan failed to take
part in the last two Olympic
tournaments. Last year, Tanaka's
ambitious squad managed only one
win in the World League but
finished ninth at the World
Championship in Argentina, a sign
of improvement in the middle of
the Olympic cycle. However, their
2003 World League campaign
disappointed again when they only
collected three wins and finished
13th. The 2003 World Cup will be a
true litmus test for Tanaka and
his men, especially in front of
their home fans.
A former excellent player,
Tanaka was a powerful force in the
Japanese national team from 1973
to 1986, and is still spoken about
with awe by the sport's
aficionados. He was a member of
the selection that finished fourth
at the 1976 Montreal Olympics,
second at the 1977 World Cup and
fourth at the 1982 World
Championship in Argentina. He also
made a major contribution to the
successes of his Nippon Steel
Club, first as a player, later
(1985 - 1990) as a playing manager
before finally becoming General
Manager of the club. In 1992, he
was sent abroad by the Japan
Olympic Committee to study
Volleyball in the United States
and Italy. He coached his
country's junior team in 2000.
 Serbia
and Montenegro
Coach
Ljubomir Travica |
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Ljubomir
Travica has been the new
coach of the Serbia and
Montenegro men's team
since taking over from
Veselin Vukovic mid-year
after he was unable to
reach agreement with the
federation concerning the
national training program.
It is some big shoes to
fill after Serbia and
Montengro finished second
at the 2003 World League
under Vukovic after losing
a sensational final to
Brazil. Travic â's
first appointment was the
European Championship in
Germany in Septemeber
where he saw his side
finish fourth behind Italy,
France and Russia. A
wildcard helped Serbia and
Montenegro reach the 2003
World Cup and give them a
chance to qualify for the
Olympics, a title which
they won in 2000.
Travica was and is
still in the service of
the Greek club Olympiakos,
but the club and the
Serbia and Montenegro
National Federation have
come to an agreement to
accommodate both roles.
Venezuela
Miguel Cambero
 Thirty-two-year-old Miguel Cambero replaced Cuban
head coach David Suárez as
head coach of the national
men's team of
Venezuela earlier in 2003
and took his side to a
13th place finish at the
2003 World League in his
first assignment.
Cambero, born in
Barquisimeto, Venezuela,
coached the national youth
team that won the bronze
medal at the Youth World
Championship in Poland
2001 and last year
assisted Suárez in
Argentina at the Men's
World Championship.
Now he has taken Venezuela
to the gold medal at the
Pan Am Games, Venezuela's
first international medal,
and a silver medal at the
Continental Championships.
He will be
assisted by Argimiro
Méndez.
USA
Doug Beal
 The future of the USA
Men’s national Volleyball
team rests in the familiar
– and capable – hands of
Hall of Fame head coach
Doug Beal.
Beal, who guided the team
to its first gold medal at
the 1984 Olympics in Los
Angeles in his first stint
with the team (1977-85),
returned to coach the
men’s national team in
1997 and will remain with
the program at least
through to the 2004
Olympics in Athens, Greece.
“I am honored and
delighted that the
association offered me the
opportunity to continue
coaching the national
team,” Beal said. “I
consider coaching the
men’s team a great honor
and responsibility. I
think there are a lot of
challenges ahead on the
men’s side, but I am
looking forward to our
continued rise to the top
of men’s international
Volleyball.”
Beal began his volleyball
career as a player in his
hometown of Cleveland. He
earned conference MVP and
All-America honors while
attending The Ohio State
University. Soon after
graduating from Ohio State
in 1970, Beal joined the
U.S. Men’s national team.
While playing on the
national team in 1970-71,
he started coaching at
university level before
accepting the head
coaching position with the
USA Men’s National Team in
1976 at the age of 29. He
helped establish the
first-ever year-round
Volleyball training
facility in Dayton, Ohio,
in 1978. The center moved
to San Diego in 1981 along
with the National Team
program.
After finishing 13th at
the 1982 World
Championships, Beal
implemented a new
revolutionary offense. His
two-man serve reception,
innovative use of multiple
back-row attackers and
swing hitters transformed
the sport and led to a
decade of dominance for
the USA men.
The team won the first leg
of the elusive Volleyball
“triple crown” in 1984
when the USA men captured
the country’s first-ever
Volleyball Olympic gold
medal. Legends Karch
Kiraly, Steve Timmons and
Dusty Dvorak were all part
of Beal’s Olympic squad.
Victories at the 1985
World Cup and 1986 World
Championships capped off
the American rise to the
top of international
Volleyball. Kiraly was
recently named the best
player of the 20th century,
while the 1984-88 teams
received special
recognition in the
greatest men’s Volleyball
team of the century
category.
Beal resigned as head
coach to become the
organization’s National
Team Center Director from
1985-87. He remained
involved with the
organization until 1990
when he moved to Italy to
coach a top professional
team.
He rejoined the national
team program in July 1993
as a special assistant to
the Executive Director/CEO.
He worked closely with
former USAV Executive
Director John Carroll, and
was responsible for FIVB
relations and player
development for the USA
national teams.
He worked in that capacity
until he accepted the
program’s head coaching
position in 1997. Beal
helped the Americans climb
from No. 10 in the world
in 1998 to No. 5 at the
beginning of the 2000
season. Highlights of
1999-2000 season were
winning NORCECA, finishing
tied for second at the
1999 World Cup and winning
their pool at the 2000
World League.
The team continued to
build toward 2004 during
their 2001 campaign. Beal
lead the U.S. team to a
silver medal at the 2001
NORCECA Championships and
qualified for the 2002
World Championships. The
2001 World University
Games team (coached by
Ruben Nieves) captured the
gold medal in China
posting an undefeated
record in seven matches.
Last season the men’s team
narrowly missed advancing
to the quarterfinals of
the Men’s Volleyball World
Championship in Argentina
and finished tied for
ninth out of 24 teams. The
USA won its first-round
pool with a perfect 3-0
record and handed eventual
world champion Brazil its
only loss of the
tournament. The team,
which featured several
players making their
international debuts
during the season, began
the year with a record of
2-10 but finished 2002
with a 19-17 mark.
Beal was elected to the
Volleyball Hall of Fame in
1989 and was USA
Volleyball’s first
recipient of the All-Time
Great Coach Award in 1995.
He was named a finalist
for the Federation
International de
Volleyball (FIVB) Greatest
Coach of the Century. Beal
was also recently selected
to the USA Volleyball 75th
Anniversary All-Era Team
as a coach during the
Men’s 1978-2002 era.
Beal is married to Nonie
and is the proud father of
Mitchell, 9, and Madeline,
6.
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 Egypt
Veselin Vukovic
 Veselin Vukovic from Serbia and
Montenegro was appointed in
September 2003 as successor to
Abdel Hamid El-wassimy as coach of
the Egyptian men’s team after
Egypt lost the African Nations'
Championship in their homelands
against Tunisia in August 2003.
El-wassimy is now the trainer of
the team while Vukovic, the former
coach of Serbia and Montenegro,
made a good start with the team
when he won the gold medal at the
All Africa Games in Abuja, Nigeria
in October, just days after he
received his job.
Vukovic’s long history as coach of
Serbia and Montenegro ended with a
great achievement at the 2003
World League where he led the
national men’s team to the final
against Brazil, which they just
lost in five exhilarating sets. He
started his coaching career with
the Yugoslavia youth team at the
1991 World Championship in Cairo
before taking them to the 1996 and
1998 European Championships and
the 1997 World Championship in
Bartizan.
The 47-year-old was first
appointed coach of the Yugoslavian
national men’s team ahead of the
2001 Mediterranean Games before
taking the team to fourth place at
the 2002 World Championship in
Argentina.
Vukovic left his post with Serbia
and Montenegro after being unable
to reach agreement with the
national federation concerning the
national training program
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 Korea
Joo-Hyin
Cha
Head coach of Korean men’s team
Joo-Hyun Cha has impressive coaching
background having been involved in the
Korean club scene since 1996.
The 47-year-old father of one has long
been involved in Volleyball and ever
since taking on his first coaching
assignment as head coach of Hanil
Synthetic Fiber from 1996 to 1998 he
has never looked back.
The year 2003 is not the first time
Cha has coached an international team.
From 1986 to 1989 the mountain
climbing enthusiast was in charge of
the Qatar national team but now, with
a side ranked 15th in the world on his
hands, he has a big assignment to see
them return to the glory days of old.
However, his success at club level
bodes well for the Korean national
team. He took his club in Kuwait to
the national league title in 1998 and
more recently had some good success
with the Korean Airlines Men’s club in
2002.
Stelio DeRocco
One of the most energetic
personalities to ever lead the helm as
coach of Team Canada, DeRocco is very
excited and honored to get the
opportunity to coach the national team
of his home country for his first
World Cup assignment.
Having first played for Canada in 1977
and first coached the national team in
2001, DeRocco has plenty of
international experience behind him
and has now taken Canda through more
than 200 games.
The 43-year-old spent most of his
career as a player from 1980-88 with
Bologna in the Italian First Division.
With Bologna, he won the Italian Cup
in 1984, the Italian Championships in
1985, was the player of the year in
1985, and European Champions’ Cup
winner in 1986. He also coached in the
prestigious Italian Professional
League with Montichiari Brescia from
1990-96, where he won the European Cup
back to back in 1991-92. He then moved
onto Napoli for his last year of
coaching in Italy, before taking over
as the head coach of team Australia
from 1997-2000 where he lead Australia
to an eight place finish at the 2000
Sydney Olympics.
With wife Valerie, DeRocco has two
sons, Michael and Jason. They have
always kept a residence in Winnipeg
and are now proud to call it home. His
hobbies away from Volleyball include
watching Ice Hockey, playing golf,
working out and spending time with his
family. His happiest moments in life
are the birth of his children, and in
sport participating in the 2000 Sydney
Olympic Games.
 Di
Anhe
A former Chinese international, Di
Anhe started his coaching career with
the Jiangsu club in 1985.
In 1993, Di was invited to coach the
Pakistan national team and led the
side to win the South Asian Games
championship in the same year.
Afterwards, Di returned to his
homeland and became head coach of the
Chinese national youth team in 1996.
In 1997, he rejoined the Chinese
national team as assistant coach to
Wang Jiawei. Then he won the Bangkok
Asian Games championship in 1998 and
the Asian Championship in 1999 with
the team.
Early in 2001, Di succeeded Wang to
take the helm of the national side. He
started rebuilding the team after the
2001 Asian Championship by replacing
most of the veterans with promising
newcomers.
The Chinese team had a disappointing
year in 2002 while the young players
accumulated some international
experience. More than a month ago, Di
led China to second place at the 2003
Asian Championship and a berth at the
2003 World Cup.
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