On Friday evening, a sporting event outside football made massive impact in Iran and the rest of sporting world. It was the win by Iran’s Volleyball team against the might of the Italians in Modena , Italy. In footballing terms, you can compare this win to Tahiti beating Spain in the World Cup. In sport, shock results are not common but it can happen , but they don’t come bigger than this Iranian victory against the 8 times Champions Italy and the land of the greatest professional Volleyball league in the world. Iran, is the infant of the World League, it is its first participation at elite level.
Such a success is undoubtedly the result of the proficiency of one of the world renowned coaches who has a pedigree of championships. He is none other than Julio Velasco, the Argentine coach who has won championship at every conceivable level of World Volleyball. Velasco is a legend in Italy where he spent most of his professional career. It was Ironic that he won against the very team that he lead to 5 world titles.
Volleyball is a sport that is ranked third in popularity in Iran, behind football and basketball. It had very limited success during the decades that it has been played, than Julio Velasco made sure that his era would be different. Winning the first ever Asian Championship in its history in 2011, Iran went on to qualify for its first ever Volleyball World league under the Argentina coaching.
Away from tactical details of such achievement, which is beyond the score of this article, Julio Velasco has changed Iranian sportsmen in a way that that the rest , especially football coaches, need to absorb and implement. Velasco is a cool character who hardly raises his voice and never resorts to shouting, commotion or being graphics to express his dissatisfaction with his players. His cool, calm yet very unyielding demeanor is the weapon that he successfully uses to deal with the players. This coach has very little tolerance for mistakes by individual players or by the team as a group; he promptly reacts to rectify the situation but also very firmly without being emotional. On the other side, he also has immense skills in the psychological side of coaching. He is the master of motivation and inspiration to his players particularly when one or two of them are down. He skillfully influences his player and instills in them self-belief to the extent they always give their absolute best. Even if they are at their top performance, the coach never allows them to set on their laurels. A rule that he will never deviate from, bend, respect and adhere is discipline in the team. Many of the players learned the hard way, how discipline is valued in Velasco’s philosophy.
Iranian players in general, had difficulties in discipline. It is a cultural issue that has resulted in the failure of many foreign coaches in Iran. Culture cannot be changed overnight in a society; hence the delicate balance that is needs to deal with Iranian players. Football coaches need to read some chapters of Velasco’s rules. Carlos Queiroz is one person who admires Velasco and the Portuguese coach was in Azadi Arena to witness the Iran Volleyball team winning the Asian Championship. That won inspired Queiroz as he witnessed the greatest scenes of jubilation for a unique event. The fact the Velasco has managed to reach so far, must have inspired many more other coaches and experts.
The issue here is not simply the tactical prowess of a coach but much beyond that. It is the methods implemented to deal with players, the character of the coach, his inspirational power, how he can make the player deliver, his vigor, his power to force upon his players to give 100% effort, his respect for the culture of his players and emotional strength to deal with adversity. Velasco has proven that he does not need to shout his head off to put the words across to his players.
Football can learn from Julio Velasco. What he proved is that there are lots of talented young men in Iran, they need the appropriate techniques and modern practices to get the best out of them. He is an inspirational person who should be valued by the sporting authorities well beyond Volleyball.