KB’s first foreign coach touched the players’ hearts

Expectations are high.

KB Insurance has recruited a foreign coach for the first time since the end of this season. He is Miguel Rivera. “I talked with the players first. I want to develop together and play volleyball without regrets,” Miguel told reporters at KB Insurance’s Ingenium in Suwon.

Miguel served as Spain’s national women’s volleyball team’s power analyst in 2009 and Spain’s national men’s volleyball team’s head coach from 2014-2021, before taking over as Spain’s national men’s team coach from 2022. He has performed well in Europe, where many world powerhouses are located, and instantly raised Spain’s FIVB ranking, which was ranked 49th when he took office, to 33rd.

When he was the head coach of the Spanish men’s national team, he led the Spanish men’s professional volleyball team Club Voleibol Teruel, winning two regular league and championship titles 2017-2018 and 2018-2019, winning two Spanish Cup titles 2018 and 2020, and winning the Spanish Super Cup for five consecutive years 2016-2020. He changed his team into a prestigious club.

He is good at building a systematic, advanced volleyball system based on data based on his outstanding data analysis and utilization capabilities. He led all the teams to the top through efficient training.

This time, he is in charge of KB Insurance. He joined the team after arriving in Korea on the 12th. “It’s my first time in Korea, and I’m very excited. Thank you so much to KB Insurance for contacting me. Thank you once again for trusting me among the many candidates,” he said. “It’s an honor to be here in the V-League. I will do my best to help KB Insurance grow somehow.”

What made you decide to come to Korea? “I was well aware of the V-League. I saw Spanish players play,” Miguel said. “I have heard a lot about the Korean league because I know César Hernández Gonzalez, the former coach of the Korean women’s volleyball team. He recommended it as a good challenge for me, and I was able to make a decision.”

He also talked with Andres Villena, a foreign player who had played in the V-League beforehand. Miguel became the head coach of the Spanish national team, and Villena became the captain. Villena served in Korean Air during the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 seasons and has been with KB Insurance since last season.

“I kept in touch with Villena even before the offer from KB Insurance came in. I tried to capture a lot of mental aspects because I was struggling mentally this year,” Miguel said. “I also asked Villena a lot about her life in Korea. She was a great help in challenging the V-League.”

After joining KB Insurance, the team conducted finishing training sessions with its players. There were aspects that put more weight on the team than on training. “I had interviews with players. I spent a lot of time talking with each other,” Miguel said. “I thought it was more important to get to know each and every player than to understand as a player. I met and heard stories from each and every player.”

“The most important thing for me was meeting with the players. The first impression of the players was very positive,” he said. “The players must have had a hard time due to bad performances this season. They actively engaged in interviews and said they wanted to change.” “Everyone was open-minded. It was good that they expressed their opinions freely.”

In this season, KB Insurance ranked at the bottom with five wins and 31 losses and 21 points. It was the first team that came in last for the first time in the team’s history. Where should we start? “The fact that a team has only five wins means that everyone is responsible. It’s not the fault of a specific player or position, but we all need to make more efforts,” Miguel said. “We confirmed that most teams ranked sixth to seventh in the index. We need to raise all the numbers.”

Do you feel pressured to lead the team to take a leap forward? “I always try to achieve my best performance, and I feel the pressure from that,” Miguel said. “There were rather good things about KB Insurance after taking the helm. It is for players to say they need to grow on their own,” adding, “What we can do right now is to do our best. We need to have trust between players and coaches. Coaches need to trust their efforts, and players need to trust their instructions and tactics. I want to move forward together like that.”

The team is quickly melding with each other. “I spend most of my time at my lodging. Koreans show respect and courtesy toward foreigners. I really appreciate it,” Miguel said. “I want to give the team’s front office, staff and players 11 out of 10. They ask and take care of me if I need anything before I even feel like I need it. Everyone is so warm.”

“I think it will take more time to eat spicy food. I will do my best to use chopsticks as soon as possible,” he said with a smile.

He asked his team’s goal for the new season. “I want to raise the players’ skills to the maximum and the limit. I want to pour all my energy into the team when we finish the next season to make sure that we don’t have enough energy left,” Miguel said. “If we did everything we could, finishing second is fine. However, even if we finish second, if we regret that we could have done better, we will be angry. My goal is to show the best performance, not the specific ranking.” 메이저 토토사이트

“Even if I can’t promise you the result, I can promise you for sure about the process. I will put in a tremendous effort,” Miguel said. “I hope to incorporate my volleyball philosophy into KB Insurance so that I can grow with the team.”

I personally watched the last regular season game against KEPCO held at Uijeongbu Gymnasium on Thursday. “It was a great experience. I could feel the passion of the fans,” Miguel said. “We can’t wait to meet the fans. The game is our responsibility, but the fans’ support is also very important. I want to be good at volleyball and raise fans’ interest.”