Ramirez, who has thoroughly analyzed Korea in Bahrain and Pakistan, shares his thoughts.
The press conference for the new head coaches of the South Korean national volleyball team was held at the Olympic Parktel conference room in Seoul on Friday. Men’s head coach Isanaye Ramirez and women’s head coach Fernando Morales participated in the press conference together, answering various questions from the press and sharing their thoughts.
Ramirez arrived in Korea on the 23rd, just two days before the press conference, but he is no stranger to the country. He has faced South Korea a total of 17 times in his previous stints as the head coach of the Bahrain and Pakistan national teams, including beating them at their most recent meeting at the 카지노 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou.
Ramirez drew on his experience to talk about the Korean men’s national volleyball team. “First of all, we need to improve our middle blockers. We need to develop middle blockers who can compete on the world stage,” he said, emphasizing the importance of middle blockers.
The importance of the middle blocker is something that Ramirez has seen firsthand when facing South Korea, as he dug into their lack of utilization of the middle. “They’ve always been a difficult team to play against. “They’ve always been a difficult team to play against because they have good skills. But we were able to dig into their setter’s game plan and take control of the match. In modern volleyball, it’s important to utilize the middle-pipe and we weren’t doing that,” he said, pointing to Korea’s lack of central firepower.
But Ramirez wasn’t the only one to criticize the South Koreans, as he also pointed out their strengths. “Technically, they’re already a good team,” Ramirez said, “and there are players like Heo Soo-bong and Jung Ji-seok who are playing important roles. There are also young players like Lee Woo-jin, who plays in Italy, and Choi Jun-hyuk, who has the physicality to play internationally. Their serve is also generally strong,” he said of Korea’s strengths.
Based on the strengths and weaknesses he has identified, Ramírez hopes to transform the Korean team into a competitive team on the world stage once again. “After we convene on May 1, we’re going to work as a team to overcome our weaknesses and maximize our strengths, and I want the players to know that each and every one of them is an important part of the team,” he said of his overall direction.
Like Morales, Ramírez is confident about another part of his role as national team coach: communicating with the V-League and working with the youth national team. “I’ve already talked to some of the coaches. Even though I’ve only been in Korea for a short time, I feel like we all need to work together, the clubs, the Korea Volleyball Association, and the Korean Volleyball Federation, to move in a good direction. We’re trying to do a lot of things to help them learn the culture faster,” he said, first noting the importance of communicating with the V-League.
Ramirez went on to talk about the collaboration with the youth national team, saying, “It’s the job of the adult national team manager to keep an eye on the youth national team because they are responsible for the future. The selection of Choi Jun-hyuk and Lee Woo-jin was also based on the future. Many Asian teams are going through a generational change, and if we can identify and use young players quickly, we will be ahead of the game. I played this role when I was head coach of the Bahrain national team, so I don’t think it will be difficult. I will work with everyone to build a team that continues to improve,” he said, emphasizing that he will not neglect his commitment to future development.
Ramirez’s first tournament will be the 2024 Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Challenge Cup in Bahrain in June. The winner of the tournament will represent the AVC in the 2024 FIVB Volleyball Challenger Cup, and if they win that tournament, they will be able to return to the 2024 FIVB Volleyball Nations League (VNL) stage. “Our goal for 2024 is to create a common goal with the players through training and to do well in the AVC Challenge Cup,” Ramirez said of their aspirations to win the Challenge Cup.
Ramírez, who knows Korea better than anyone, is now at the helm of the Korean national team. It will be interesting to see how his experience can help South Korea regain its international competitiveness.
