03/07/2020 14:00
Kai Liukkonen leads online exchange of knowledge among Beach Volleyball coaches
News from the CEV
Luxembourg, July 3, 2020. The CEV Beach Volleyball Department hosted on Thursday afternoon the second online workshop in a series of three webinars specifically addressed to members of the Beach Volleyball family, while waiting for the return of international competition later this month. Kai Liukkonen, a renowned Beach Volleyball coach working for the Finnish Volleyball Association, addressed as many as 51 attendees – a truly impressive figure showing the appetite for further education as well as for the sharing of experiences among European coaches.
Liukkonen shared his extensive background from working with junior and senior players and discussed many of the projects that he has been running or he has contributed to while leading the Finnish Beach Volleyball programme. With the help and guidance of Liukkonen, Finland have cemented their role on the international stage, with their women’s teams achieving remarkable success even in highly competitive World Tour events.
Kai, also known as Kaipe in the Beach Volleyball community, shared with the attendees the ‘tools’ he has developed to prepare his players for competition, emphasising the importance of tactical and mental preparation. Moreover, Liukkonen reviewed the close cooperation he has developed with his statisticians and the type of data they usually collect to help him and his players prepare to take on one or the other opponent.
The lecture included some videos of different exercises before a Q&A session lasting for some 20-25 minutes followed next. The coaches had the opportunity to exchange their best practices and agreed on the necessity to customise their approach when working with different age groups. This applies especially to tactical preparation, with young players not yet ready to ‘chunk and digest’ too much information at such an early stage of their careers.
This was the second webinar hosted by the CEV Beach Volleyball Department, after a previous online workshop organised last week for the Beach Volleyball Administrators of as many as 31 member Federations. The third and last such webinar is due to take place next week, thereby involving CEV Technical Supervisors due to officiate at CEV competitions.
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