Bangkok, Thailand, March 8, 2023 – The Thailand Volleyball Association has its sight set on the considerable improvement in the level of its national men’s team and beach volleyball squad courtesy of the coach support through the FIVB’s revolutionary Volleyball Empowerment Programme.
Park Ki-won
TVA, the national regulating body for volleyball in Thailand and also a member of the AVC and FIVB, has recently announced that it is currently benefitting the first month of coach support from FIVB, the governing body responsible for all forms of volleyball on a global level. The coach support is part of the FIVB Volleyball Empowerment in efforts of empowering and improving the technical level of national teams and athletes to provide them with the skills to play at the highest level.
Park Ki-won smiling with his South Korea team
Following the 12 months of coach support for development of national teams, FIVB has sent Mr Park Ki-Won to work with the TVA as the head coach of the Thailand men’s national volleyball team to help them achieve better results at International tournaments.
Park Ki-won works with AVC as its Coaches Committee Chairman
Currently working with AVC as Chairman of the AVC Coaches Committee, the 72-year-old Park is a South Korean former volleyball player who competed in the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich, Germany and 1976 in Montreal, Canada.
He played for South Korea from 1972–78 and spearheaded the team to capturing gold medal at the 1978 Asian Games in Thailand apart from joining the Korean team which finished fourth at the 1978 World Championship in Italy.
He also joined many club teams including the Korea Army Capital Defense Command between 1972-1973, Hanyang University from 1972/73-1975/76 and Pineto Volley in Italy from 1979/80-1981/82.
Highlights of his coaching career included working with Iran as head coach between 2002 and 2005 and taking Iran men’s team to a silver medal at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, Korea and a bronze medal at the following year’s Asian Championship in Tianjin, China. From 2011 to 2014, Park coached South Korea and in 2013, he led the Korean men’s team to a silver medal at the Asian Championship in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
Mr Kiattipong
“Frankly, Mr Park was one of the greatest head coaches in Asia. He was also famous after years of showcasing his incredible performance as a promising player of the South Korea national team and club teams in major tournaments. In terms of the coaching career, Mr Park also proved himself well that he was one of accomplished coaches,” AVC Secretary General Mr Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai was quoted as saying in his recent interview.
“Without doubts, with Mr Park working with the TVA as head coach of its senior men’s national team, this can mark a new era of development of the Thailand men’s volleyball team and I think they can go from strength to strength. In addition, I’m also convinced that under the close guidance of Mr Park, the team can achieve some great results in 2023.
“We look forward to seeing the Thailand men’s team go even further through this coach support from FIVB,” added Mr Kiattipong, former renowned Thailand head coach who steered the Thailand women’s nation team to many achievements continentally and globally including the Asian Senior Women’s Championship twice in 2009 and 2013 and a surprise fourth-place finish at the 2012 FIVB World Grand Prix.
Ahead of starting his job with TVA, Mr Park watched the final matches of the season-closing Thailand Volleyball League on February 26 at the packed MCC Hall inside The Mall Bangkapi Department Store. This will help the Korean head coach able to layout the framework and set a standard of competence of the Thailand team.
Mr Park is likely to land the head coaching role for the Thailand men’s national team at the 32nd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Cambodia from May 3 to 8, 2023.
At the previous edition last year, the Thai team left Hanoi with heads low in great despair following a below-par fourth-place finish. From 1985 to 2019, Thailand made top three in every SEA Games, but it was last year in Vietnam when the Thai team dropped from their best to return with a disappointing fourth place, a far cry from 8 titles they had won in the biennial sports extravaganza.
Ms Adriana Bento
Apart from Mr Park, AVC Secretary General Mr Kiattipong said that FIVB also sent Ms Adriana Bento Buczmiejuk, 53, a former Brazilian beach volleyball national team player and coach to work with TVA through the FIVB Volleyball Empowerment Programme of the FIVB’s 12-months coaching support .
Ms Adriana will be in charge of the Thailand men’s beach volleyball team, aiming that she will utilize effective coaching strategies to drive the Thai team to successes in future major beach volleyball events.
On her achievement in the old days, the Rio de Janeiro-based Adriana teamed up with Monica Paludo to win the FIVB Challenger & Satellite in Portici, Italy in 1999 and was a three-time South American champion, consistently ranked in the top-six players in Brazil. She also played in FIVB World Tour events for several times and Pan American Games in 1999.
In terms of her coaching role, Ms Adriana and her family moved to Canada in 2010 and started as an assistant coach for the University of Toronto in Canada and had gone on to become an assistant coach with the Canada national beach team. She was also the indoor volleyball head coach of the Centennial College Men’s Volleyball Team.
Ms Adriana’s first job with TVA is to help boost the preparations of the Thailand beach volleyball team at the AVC Beach Tour 22nd Samila Open from April 14 to 17, 2023 in Songkhla, Thailand.
As Mr Park and Ms Adriana Bento have already been in Thailand for their full-time job in 12 months with the TVA through the FIVB Volleyball Empowerment Programme as head coach of the respective men’s indoor and men’s beach volleyball teams, Mr Jose Inacio Salles Neto will also come to Thailand to help on the training process, specifically physiotherapy, strength and conditioning and technical development.
Mr Neto
Mr Neto, a strength and conditioning coach from the FIVB’s technical and development department, has already joined the national team program of the Philippines in 2022 and is expected to make a trip to Thailand soon.
“Neto will first work with the Thailand beach volleyball and after that, it’s possible that he will help and support the indoor squad. He will emphasise on fitness and muscle building, optimizing the players’ strength and preventing injuries during intense workouts and training in preparation for important competitions of Thailand beach volleyball team,” Mr Kiattipong said.
“He is part of the support for the national team program of FIVB to TVA. However, Neto will work as a trainer or instructor and will come only once in every two months,” the AVC Secretary General added.
AVC Executive Director Mr Shanrit Wongprasert, himself AVC Honorary Life Vice President and TVA Honorary President, is also upbeat that with the FIVB’s coach support through the Volleyball Empowerment Programme, the TVA will further boost its volleyball development.
“As Mr Park and Ms Adriana will coach the men’s indoor and men’s beach volleyball teams, Mr Neto will work on the Thai players’ strength and conditioning. I believe that under the supervision of Mr Neto, the Thai players both indoor and beach volleyball will get physically stronger in the near future. His expertise and scientific training techniques will also help prevent unexpected injuries among Thai players,” he said.
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