Book Reviews

BOOK REVIEW

Karpol - Lunatics - that's what I need   by Tomislav Birtic author@nikolaikarpol.com  www.nikolaikarpol.com

I'm not sure if everyone knows who Nikolai Karpol is, he is about the only none UK coach I can name, however others will know him from his court side antics on TV, particularly his aggressive and verbal dressing down of players at timeouts. I have several tapes of his Russian Ladies team, where his shouting is so loud and violent toward the players, that the TV commentators don't know what to say to their audiences. I was therefore most interested in his autobiography, to find out what makes this coach tick and more importantly, why do his players put up with these out bursts.  Without giving to much of the book away, Nikolai Karpol's coaching career starts in Russia during the sixties, turned his club professional in the early 1970's. Running and operating a club in a socialist environment, is quite different to running a club in the West, the book explains his experiences and the tactics he employs, to try and give his girls the upper hand. He make the connection between team spirit and success, sets ups his own social and welfare structure for the girls, all of which is in stark contrast to the public image you get from his visual out bursts. A fascinating book and one which I'm happy to recommend to our readers.  Dave Reece  Paperback, 129 Pages, 22 B&W pictures. It's published in Croatia, cost approximately £11 pounds (17 Euros) and is available on-line from www.nikolaikarpol.com and delivery took about three days [As it cost less than £18 pounds their is no VAT or import duty to pay, although my copy had been opened by customs, I trust they had a good read.]

Karpol - Lunatics - that's what I need One of the most charismatic volleyball coaches, twice Olympic champion (1980, 1988) and twice Olympic silver medallist (1992, 2000), world champion in 1990 and three times bronze medallist (1994, 1998, 2002), three times Grand Prix winner (1997, 1999, 2002), eight times European champion (1977, 1979, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1997, 1999 & 2001). Ten time European Champion's cup (1981, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995 & 1998), the European Cup winners' cup 1986, Thirteen Soviet Union Championships and ten times championships of independent Russia. Elected Coach of the year by the FIVB in 1989 and 1991.  Russian Nikolai Karpol, after more than twenty years of silence decided to present himself to the audience in the almost total disclosure book titled "Lunatics - That's What I Need", the sweetest candy for his colleagues, players, managers, volleyball fans and journalists.

Some extracts from the book: I could choose between unloading freight from wagons or teaching children to play volleyball, and it was not difficult to choose. The scholarship I was given by the Mathematics Institute was not even sufficient for food, so, as an amateur second league player (setter) with no real success, at the age of twenty, I became a volleyball coach. I continued to live simply, very simply, but at least I could continue studying. At that time, of course, I had no idea that my work as a coach would become my career. I was convinced I would be a mathematician, but there it is, life simply gave me the opportunity to become a coach, which I did and I still am one today. In 1971 I decided to turn the amateur team into a professional one, to turn a factory club into a top ranking club. One day I told the girls that they were not to go to work, but only train from that moment on. The next morning the director saw them in the factory enclosure and asked them why they were not at work. They replied that their coach had told them not to go to work. Now I had to persuade the director to accept our new way of working. I asked him if he wanted a top team. When I came there I did not say that the players I found there were mine, but two years later I had the right to do so. I told him that if he did not want a top club, we would go to another factory, which would maybe want us. It worked! However, a player can be taller, we can make her grow, by training, by up to two or three centimetres, and if we are able to allow the child to train in a variety of climates, then even more. Precisely, changing climates encourages growth by a few centimetres, and so we spend some time in the Urals, a little in Croatia. By exercising and changing climates we can add four to six centimetres. Also, we can also influence growth with food containing many vitamins and certain fermented products. In the spring I would go south from Uralochka to the Crimea since in the Urals at that time of year there is no fresh food, which is vital to us. Electro-magnetic fields also influence human growth and they vary in different parts of the globe. I will describe one of the exercises my girls do for stamina. They go up to six hundred metres by car, run to the top of a hill of a thousand metres and then run down. It would be impossible to tell someone to do four thousand squats. Who could do four thousand squats? The effort needed for running those four hundred metres uphill is equivalent to the effort used by the body doing four thousand squats, and this is how you gain both strength and stamina. This exercise is also good for the ligaments, the knees and ankles. The way the game is organised is based on science, mathematics, mathematical game theories which are based on mathematical analysis, function theory and differential calculus. In order to know what your opponent has available (how you can oppose him) and what you have available (how you will attack), you have to understand mathematics. We have organised the game in a way that no one else ever has. That is why few people understand the way our game is organised. In relation to the way other teams play, ours differs in only one way - it has been organised using science, mathematics. We have used differential calculus in the theory of the game. The dependency of attack and defence may be shown as functions. Smirnova has a grandmother whom she loves very much. She could not smash the ball in the match against Peru in the finals at the Seoul Olympics. It just would not work. In the break when Peru was leading 2-0 and 12-6 in the third set, I asked her, what would your grandmother say if we lost? She nearly broke down in tears. I asked her again and she started to cry, Come on, go and play for your granny, I told her. And she played like never before. But you can use these, I won't say weak, but strong points that players have only once. Sometimes you have to wait years for the right moment, determine when it is important enough to use what you know. I need self-confident women who will not admit to any greater authority than themselves, and everyone else who works with me needs to be like that too. Those around them should see them as lunatics. They must be great in the sense that they are so completely self-confident. I tell my girls if they can't settle with their husbands the details of travel arrangements, matches and competitions, they cannot be the best in the world. A woman may be tall, fast, strong but she can't win. Only when she is capable of being the boss in the family is she able to be the best in the world. I need strong people. best regards, Tomislav Birtic author@nikolaikarpol.com

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