Movahedi praises fitness of Pakistani players

Newly-appointed volleyball coach working with athletes on modern training

KARACHI: Newly-appointed national volleyball team coach Hamid Movahedi thinks Pakistani players have great potential to excel not only at Asian but also at a global level, provided that they receive professional guidance.

Movahedi, who coached Iran’s national team to the top of Asian rankings, was appointed by Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) for six months with the help of their Iranian counterparts.

The new coach, after spending a week with Pakistani players, feels that the players have real potential to do well at the top level. “I have signed a six-month contract with the PVF and just came here a week back. I have observed the male and female players who are physically very strong and willing to listen to what is taught to them, which impressed me a lot,” he said.

Movahedi said Pakistani players made his work easy by displaying physical fitness and now he only needs to focus on improving their technique.

“The feedback a coach gets from the players is most important in learning and I’m glad that they are really interested. Me and the players started with light training as I wanted to prepare them for the modern day training,” he said.

He also criticised the old techniques which are not helping the players in improving their skill-set. “The players and coaches here are still using the same old-style training which is completely out-dated,” he added. “Volleyball has seen lot of changes and one should adopt modern day techniques to stand realistic chance of doing well in volleyball.”

Talking about the time that Pakistan will take to improve their rankings, he said that six months is a short period but at least he’ll try to change their style. “It will take at least two to three years to take this team on top with the help of hard training and also much-needed international exposure, as without matches and international tours, we can’t produce results,” he said.