Both male and female national teams officially gathered together last week to prepare for the major competitions of the year, which makes their fans so eager.
It has been a long time since both male and female teams of Vietnamese volleyball were trained by a foreign coach with the aim to create an impressive breakthrough in both their quality and quantity.
While the female team still could not change their record at 25th SEA Games and started to worry about the strength of other competitors such as Indonesia and Malaysia, the male team had to face a very hard time, began with their fall in Lao two years ago. Those had made them fail from the second position to the fourth position and lose all their eight matches at 16th Asian Games.
These were the last straw, which has alerted the Vietnamese Volleyball League to reconsider their strategy. Their contracts with two foreign coaches are hoped to fix the limited level of Vietnamese coach and create a change in the playing style of both teams.
Coach Augusto Sabbatini, who had led Pakistan’s volleyball male team to some achievements, is highly evaluated. Vietnamese fans can pin their hope on this Brazilian coach because he is expected to bring some new changes with a typical style of South American volleyball to us.
Meanwhile, 56-year-old coach Qiao Yu Chuan would be in charge for leading the female team. With his impressive achievements with Szechwan – one of the top ranking female volleyball clubs of China, along with his experiences with a club in Mexico and the male team of Oman, we really believe that he can change the quality for our female team.
With nearly all the athletes from the 25th SEA Games, we cannot help worrying about them. However, it is some supplements with new young players that can give us more hopes.
In Vientiane two years ago, Quang Khanh, Binh Giang, Dinh Toan, Vu Bon or Thai Hung were just reserve players. Now, they are main factors who can bring glory for Long An team, Vietnam Oil and Gas group and Sacombank Bien Phong team.
These young players would certainly strongly compete with their seniors such as Huu Ha and Van Kieu, who are also very good players, to get their positions in the official national team.
Similarly, the female team also has the same situation. Beside some familiar faces such as Kim Hue, Ngoc Hoa, Pham Thi Yen, Bui Thi Hue, there are some new faces as Tra Giang of Vietsovpetro, Kim Lien and Kim Nga of Binh Dien Long An, Dao Thi Huyen of LV Bank Information, Cam Tu and Hong Nhung of Ho Chi Minh City, and Minh Nham of the Air Defense team.
