Georgi Topalov
In the last season, he was a member of Hypo Tyrol Haching Unterhaching. In a meeting with Vital Heynen’s team, the Bulgarian setter had a very interesting situation. You should definitely read it.
You played in many teams in your career, tell us your impressions about German league?
“German Bundesliga is definitely one of the best leagues in Europe. I played in many different leagues, however, I never saw as hot fans as the German ones. I personally got a lot of support from them and I find it really cool how much energy they put into supporting their favorite players and team! In our first game of the season against ‘’ VfB Friedrichshafen” I was very impressed by the coach of the opponents – Vital Haynen. In the second set I was subbed-in and after a couple of rotations, I heard Vital saying to the second referee “Watch the setter, he is going in before the serve! He is out of rotation!”. I was pretty sure that I wasn’t going early in, however, I noticed that the second referee was watching me exclusively. I slowed my tempo to be sure I won’t get rotation call. Meanwhile, Friedrichshafen served strong jump serve and put us “out of the system”. I was so focused to “go in slowly” that for a second I forgot what happened previous time in this rotation – Where is my high-ball spiker? How opponent blocked us last time in this rotation? I found it interesting how such small thing can disturb the whole gameplay. At this moment I knew that this coach is very good, coaching at the high level. After the season I set up a meeting with him. I was very curious about his work on the setter position. We talked for about an hour. I learned more about volleyball in this hour than for four months in “Alpen Volleys”.
Georgi Topalov
How did the meeting go? What questions did you ask Vital Heynen?
“The meeting went well. I was happy that I got the chance to talk to someone who has real knowledge about the setter position. My questions were regarding the decision making of setter, training precision more efficiently and also we discussed the best technique for setting to position 2. I got really good answers from him, also special exercises that will improve my technique and the way to analyze my team to get the knowledge where should I send the best passes during the game. I won’t give all tricks away that I learned because they are too good and advanced, but for my next season I preparing myself with “Vitals system”. I think it will work very good for me!
What are your plans for the next season?
“I am very ambitious and I am always looking to improve myself. I hope to join a club that will appreciate my efforts. I believe very soon I will find the right people for me and we can aim high,” says Topalov in the interview with WorldofVolley.
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