In a league of their own
With the Thai women's national volleyball team now 10th in the world rankings, coach Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai explains how his smaller players can successfully block their towering rivals
The players of Thailand women's national volleyball team have received loud applause for their gutsy display in the recent World Grand Prix Finals, which saw them finish in the top 10 rankings for the very first time. The sport too is gaining in popularity, which can only be a good thing, yet surprisingly few people are talking about Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai, the man behind the team's amazing success.
The Thai players defied against all odds to finish an unprecedented sixth place in the recent competition. Thailand debuted in the top-flight, one-month-long tournament in 2002 and no team has improved on eighth position, achieved twice in 2002 and 2009.
The team's run in this year's World Grand Prix is even more remarkable when one considers the size of the players. Ace spiker-cum-head coach Kiattipong, who's popularly known as coach Aod, reveals the secret recipe for this success.
"Compared physically with the hefty Chinese or Europeans, most Thai players are short. We have a height average of 176cm against our rivals' 185cm and up. Russia, for example, has two key players in Ekaterina Gamova and Luliia Merkulova and they both stand at just over two metres. Attacking these two towers is not easy. My team always has a height disadvantage whenever they take on the formidable opponents in such major competitions as the World Championship, the World Grand Prix and the World Cup.
"To beat those rivals, you know that you have no match against their height. So, you have to seek other advantages to fight them or match them competitively. Our players learn how to cope with the rivals' height. We can't make our players tall, so we instruct them to use their pace, speed and power as their weapons," Kiattipong explains.
Making his presence felt in the national men's volleyball team at 17, the 45-year-old Nakhon Ratchasima native made seven appearances in the South East Asian (SEA) Games including the 1985 and 1995 editions, in which Thailand won laurels.
The 190cm ace spiker retired from the national team in 1999 and became the head coach for a Thailand national girls' youth squad. Kiattipong got his coaching career off to a great start, taking the girls to a camp in Yala for intensive training. "I learned coaching from a Chinese coach. It was a great education," he says.
His determination and devotion paid dividends. In 1997, Kiattipong's youngsters won an unprecedented fifth place at the Chiang Mai-hosted FIVB World Girls' Youth Championship, Thailand's the best effort in such a world level tournament.
"Getting a new-brand girls' youth team off the ground wasn't easy. I spent a lot of time learning new tactics and techniques. I taught my girls how to play taller rivals and make the match more closely contested. To do that, it was necessary to play with a killer instinct - producing powerful jump serves and unleashing lightning-fast spikes with solid blocks.
"If you can't overcome the taller blocker with just spikes, you have to seek other effective ways to accomplish your goal. So, I told my girls to work on attacking from the mid-court and producing deceptive come-from-behind spikes at the net poles. The instruction method worked out pretty well and we then started to do better in subsequent matches against taller rivals.
"Developing our players' skills to maximum potential requires more than just physical training. Staff coaches also provide counselling and psychological support. Sports science and modern tactics are also used in preparing players for major competition," he adds.
With such significant success in his very first assignment, the Thailand Volleyball Association appointed Kiattipong as head coach of the Thailand women's national team for the first time in 1998.
Kiattipong is more than a coach: He has put Thailand on the volleyball map. In his first year of coaching the national women's senior side, he made the country proud by leading his team to play against the world's top players in the World Championship for the first time.
Though they finished a distant 15th on that occasion, the experience paid for and they landed the maiden Asian Championship for the first time in 2009 following a stunning victory over indomitable giants China in the final showdown. The squad also made it three times in a row in the Asian Women's Club Championship, which they played under Chang's banner.
"We have to work much harder from now. Development cannot stand still. The world's volleyball powerhouses -Brazil, the USA and Russia - have made a big leap in the world-level competitions and now we have to catch up with them.
"Our sixth place finish in the World Grand Prix means that Thailand is now in the top 10 in the world rankings. We can't stop here. New tactics, long-term preparation and financial support are all necessary elements in helping our team move forward."
