Nikolai Karpol Tells All

Interview with Nikolay Karpol by Tomislav Birtic

Nikolai, how much volleyball and the world changed for better and how much for worse in the last ten years?

Volleyball hasn’t progressed. I’m talking about women’s volleyball. Why is that? Because in these ten years we didn’t have much stars. Talented young players are not stars yet. For example, in the last World Championship, the best player was Sokolova, which was the best ten years ago as well. It’s the same with Gamova. There are no more setters like Kirillova was. And why is that? Because volleyball changed. Because rules of the game changed. To win a point today, rival has to make a mistake. It doesn’t matter where: in defense, offense or on serve. It’s all point. Before, to win a point, you had to defend yourself, and after defense you won a point with counter attack. That is very important. The game was more interesting, the ball was more time in the air, players were more concentrated, the old rules were better for audience too. Methodology of training changed as well. Once, games lasted three to four hours, now two. So, you need to train less, and if you train less, you play worse. Next, we started to play more and train less. We play national championship, Euroleague, Grand Prix. It’s all for money, for commercialization. In the end, volleyball rules changed because of commercialization and money from television advertising. Second, because of lot of games and not so much training, players are often injured. But, there is also a good stuff. Players are making much more money now.

How much is ‘much more’? How much are they making?

Ten years ago men players in Italy could make USD 200-300.000. Today, women make USD 1.000.000. Next, it’s good that volleyball games are nowdays more often on television than before. Because of commercialization we got much more time on television and in newspapers. Unfortunately, quality of players decreased, and I can barely stand that. Strategy of volleyball development changed. Once, trainers’ primary job was creating players, and now teams’ result is the ultimatum. Manager buys players and trainers’ main job is to prepare the team of complete players, because you get them ready. So, before you had to select girls or a boys, make players of them, and then of players you have created on your own, make a team.

You are saying that volleyball is not the most important anymore because of profit? You can make profit with any players?

Now, volleyball is the same as spectacle in theater. In theater, spectacle is made of actors. And who prepares actors? Faculties, academies. In volleyball that doesn’t exist, you don’t have that in volleyball. What are academies for actors, for players were teams. Through teams, coaches created and perfected players. Today you don’t have that any more. If coach devotes to developing players, he can lose couple of games and because of that he will be replaced. Some teams change two or three trainers during the season. To improve some players, trainer has to work systematically several years, many years. Now, trainers just throw the balls.

How do you like Chinese volleyball?

They lost quality of trainers. Good ones went to America, Italy… Today, quality of trainers in national team and in clubs is not like it used to be.

How much volleyball has changed since China is wealthy country?

What is wealthy country? Namibia is rich with diamonds. But who produces jewelry out of that diamonds? Europeans, Americans. Thus, there are many diamonds in China which should be abraded. Chinese clubs buy players like the rest of the wealthy. Of course. But, players in volleyball are not business like in soccer or hockey. Therefore, the sponsors in volleyball are more important than in soccer and sports in which you can make good money by trading players. Good thing in China is that country gives money for sports which is not the case elsewhere. Now, it’s capitalism in force, since in China sport can still live because of the rich sponsors.

Are you satisfied with spreading of volleyball across the world or you think that quality is still concentrated in few countries?

As the quality concerns, volleyball is not spreading, but in geographical sense, it is spreading nicely.

If you would rule the volleyball world, what would you do to develop volleyball in every sense?

That’s not issue for me. All these years, I’m not interested only in creating good players, but good people as well. My mission is teacher.

With which of your players are you the most proud? If you estimate result in sports and humanity, who would be your best player?

It’s hard to say. There are lot of them. I can’t select one and I can’t recount them all. For thirty, forty years I create players and women which have kids, some players are already grandmothers. But if you insist… Radzelyich, captain of Uralochka and national team, Olympic champion. And other girls. My biggest success is that my players have children. I’m happy that many of my players were stars and they stayed human. They lived happy, they were happy. My duty was to make every training interesting, as well as every game. That was and that is my happiness in life. I won’t work much longer.

Is it even possible to leave coaching?

It’s possible. Every year it’s harder for me to hold concentration, high concentration during whole season. There are many games and time and there is no time for rehabilitation. This job is pure stress, and to suffer stress from game to game being 73 or 75 years old is very hard. I still have strength. I will hold on. But, coach has to be more concentrated than players, and right now that is very hard for me. They are young…

What’s your biggest mistake as a trainer? For what would you say ‘if I then had this knowledge’?

I can’t talk about mistakes. I think there were mistakes, but not big mistakes. Maybe small ones, on trainings and on games, but not big ones.

Give an example.

Maybe I had faith in players in which I shouldn’t have.

Confidence in them as players or as people?

As players. Maybe I made mistakes in preparing games but I have never made mistake in preparing person to be a human.

What is the most important, what coach makes a coach? If now, in front of you, you have a man who wants to be a coach, what would you advise him, what is the most important, on what he has to pay the most attention in order to succeed?

He has to love his players. If you don’t love your players, you’re not a pedagogue. You can be a boss but you need to be a pedagogue.

In the book you said that the biggest reserves in methodology of training are in psychology. Since then passed twelve years. What has changed, where is psychology in sports now? Are reserves you talked about exhausted or maybe they haven’t been even introduced?

We have already seen the big things. But, probably they haven’t been even cut into. Do you know what’s the point? Not just to understand the head but to get through to human heart. That is base, backbone, foundation of the motivation. In that sense, psychology is almost untouched.

What have you done to get through to human heart?

Lot of things. It’s not for the public. But, I can tell you that it should be done every day. With people you need to work in a way to wake up conscience in them. That is pedagogue. That is psychology.

How much is conscience an advantage and how much a disadvantage in the sports today?

Nevertheless, it’s advantage.

After all simulating penalties, playing with hand and other cheatings, you still say that conscience is advantage?

The thing is that coach cannot exchange conscience for money. Today, many want to solve all the questions with money. No. Conscience needs to be roused, waken up. You need to get person to be interested in something, to do whatever he or she does because he or she loves it, to be responsible in front of people and in front of him or herself. Conscience.

All these years, how much have you succeeded to help players to bear the pressure? Responsibility in front of audience can be scary, tremendous pressure. Have you found cure for that or that is just incurable?

Every player knows what is his responsibility as a professional and what as a man, person. As a professional, player is responsible to himself, team, trainer, and as a person to fans, people, audience.

How much have fans changed since you became trainer till today, or in the last ten years?

Today, fans go to the game like on the show. Many don’t know volleyball, don’t understand volleyball. It’s not the same that 15 or 20 percent of people go to see volleyball like they’re going on the show and don’t know how many times is allowed to play the ball.

And, what do you think is better, that they are on the volleyball even they don’t know basic rules or not at all?

It’s better that they are here. They’ll learn.

As factories fight for customers, sports fight for fans, which are actually customers. Are you satisfied with what volleyball on global level is doing to win those fans?

White collars are doing it wrong. Many people who work in federations are not professionals and that’s the reason for poor effort in attracting fans. The best in that were Japanese. Today, Brazil is doing good work as well as China, Russia is not bed, Japan is still good. And the best is Poland. Phenomenal! They have tradition and they saved it. On European championship in 2009, on games of inferior, uninteresting teams, in gym that can take 12.000 people were 6.000 spectators. That is great accomplishment. Before, in Japan was like that, but it’s not any more. Interest declined because the quality of teams and players decreased. People that are not professionals are not capable to keep the interest of fans for volleyball.

How much it meant to you to be accepted in Hall of Fame? Was it just another plaquettes?

That is official recognition for what I have done in volleyball. I think that, of 100 percent of people that deserved to be in Hall of Fame, 99 percent are there. Because they did something for volleyball. To be there is big honor for me. Big honor.

What Doug Beal and the rest say, why volleyball in America never outgrew faculties and became professional sport like basketball and football?

And why would volleyball at all be professional sport? Why, if on students championship competes several thousand teams? What an occupation for young! Why would you need a league with few teams? American people live volleyball. That’s good for national health. Don’t forget how much costs that every faculty has a team.

Why did you in two finals in Olympics lead 2-0 and lost 3-2? Could you do something to win or it is objectively 3-2 for rivals and there was nothing that could be done?

(sigh) In Sydney was hard to do anything. And in Greece, leadership of FIVB worked against us.

Do you agree, after time has passed, with critics who were saying that your volleyball is too slow? Could your volleyball be faster, such as the one Kirillova wanted?

Critics don’t stand. The way Kirillova and Smirnova played, could play only Japanese. It all starts with people. What kind of team I had and what were their possibilities resulted in what kind of game we had to play. I couldn’t command them to play what they couldn’t have played. Girls wanted to play something else but I had to organize the game in the way that our chances to win raised. When Kirillova just started to play, she wasn’t allowed to do a lot of stuff. But, as she progressed, according to her possibilities, I let her improvise.

Did Kirillova exceed ballerina Pliseckaya, your ideal of love towards job and professionalism? Was Kirillova in volleyball better that Pliseckaya in ballet?

No. Pliseckaya is so much better, that’s not for comparison. Pliseckaya worked until she was 70 years old. She danced when she was 70! Intimidating. In comparison with volleyball players, Kirillova is the best of all times, but nobody can compare to Pliseckaya. She is ideal of dedication to what you work.

(images:  tomislavbirtic.com)