"Middle blockers must also receive serves": The condition for a strong team emphasized by a world-renowned coach, and how Hyundai Capital is changing

*This content was translated by AI.View Original

The conditions for a strong team as envisioned by Philippe Blang (66), head coach of the Hyundai Capital Skywalkers in men's professional volleyball, were clear. He wanted all players to maximize their strengths while simultaneously filling in their weaknesses.

Coach Blang is one of the coaches who understands the flow of world volleyball better than anyone else. A former member of the French national team, he served as head coach of the French Nam Ja (CEO) team and spent a long time as a coach with the Japanese Nam Ja (CEO) team. Before coming to the Korean stage, he contributed to enhancing Japan's international competitiveness.

He has continued to prove his coaching ability since taking the helm at Hyundai Capital in 2024. In his first season, the 2024-2025 season, he achieved a treble by winning the Cup Tournament, the regular league, and the championship finals. In the recent 2025-2026 season, they finished second in the regular league, but settled for runner-up in the championship finals after a close battle with Korean Air that went all the way to the fifth game. They turned the series around from a two-game losing streak to a two-game winning streak, bringing the match back to an even standstill, but failed to overcome the final hurdle.

What Coach Blang is emphasizing at Hyundai Capital as he enters his third season is not simply technical improvement. It is for players to understand volleyball and develop themselves. Coach Blang, whom StarNews met recently at the V-League Media Day, explained, "The first thing I tried to change while working with the players was how they understand volleyball," adding, "I wanted to raise their knowledge and understanding of volleyball and have them participate more actively during training."

He added, "It is not simply about repeating the same movements in training, but about having players think for themselves about how they can develop and encouraging them to enhance their abilities and strengths."

Why does he emphasize understanding of volleyball so strongly? Coach Blang's thinking stemmed from the commonalities among world-class players. He emphasized, "When you look at strong teams around the world, their players have almost no weaknesses," adding, "Some abilities may be particularly outstanding, and some may be at an average level. But there should be no major deficiencies."

He explained, "In volleyball at the world's highest level, one must pay a very high price for even a small mistake. Therefore, players need to develop in every aspect."

He also cited specific examples: middle blockers receiving serves and opposite spikers' connecting plays. Coach Blang stated, "Even as a middle blocker, one must be able to receive short serves. Opposites may also face moments where they need to perform receiving, passing, or connecting plays depending on the situation," adding, "Of course, it takes time to acquire such abilities, but all players must develop multiple skills."

However, this did not mean that all players should perform the same roles without regard for their positions. In response to the question, "Is total volleyball a global trend?" Coach Blang first drew a line by saying, "No." He then emphasized, "Each team's volleyball varies according to the abilities of the players they have. They must find the system that best suits the players they possess."

The core of what he spoke about was to maximize the team's overall completeness by leveraging individual player characteristics while minimizing weaknesses. This philosophy continued into off-season training. Hyundai Capital sent five players to the Korean national team this year, and with Chinese national team member Zhang Chuan (32) also absent, they had to prepare for the season without their key players.

Coach Blang instead used this period as a growth opportunity for young players. He stated, "I focused on developing young players. The biggest goal was to prepare all remaining players so that they could help the team and play efficiently when needed during the season."

Even when asked which player he particularly expected to shine, he did not single out one individual. Coach Blang said, "As a coach, I try to assign equal importance to all players on the roster," adding, "I set individual goals for all the players who were with us this summer. We considered what roles they could take on during the season and worked on developing the skills and abilities needed to perform those roles." He added, "Whether those players can actually become important resources for the team will be confirmed as we play upcoming matches."

Coach Blang said, "At the team level, we have tried to reach the highest level possible with the players we currently have," adding, "The volleyball we showed in last season's playoffs was very good. I hope that such performance continues this season as well."

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original