Vincenzo

@Vincenzo, #ZehraGüneş  Young player, with long gaming experience and very strong. Moreover, it is also beautiful... I really like it

#ArenaStoziceLubiana Last performance for Paola Egonu with this shirt, the Panthers aim to beat the battleship of coach Giovanni Guidetti and Isabella Haak (already promised to the Veneto for next season), against which they lost the Club World Cup Final.

@HoldMan Missing Paola Egonu who goes to play in turkey in vakifbank from Imoco Volley Conegliano italy

VOLLEYBALL, CLUB WORLD CUP - Imoco Conegliano lost a trophy after more than two years, with 2-3 cashed by Guidetti's VakifBank. In the misconception of some, Paola Egonu has once again become a scapegoat, as had already happened in Tokyo 2020. There are athletes destined to always have to bear the weight of expectations. Among these, Paola Egonu occupies a space in its own right, for the fact of having become a status symbol to which the fan forgives almost nothing, in terms of errors or empty passes - if such can be written - because her performance standards are so high, to make inconceivable 12 errors in the match that is worth a trophy. Imoco Conegliano had not lost for over two years, a period in which it managed to wipe out the record of 73 consecutive victories, among all the events, recorded by VakifBank between October 2012 and January 204, bringing it to 76. For some, three more successes will be a trifle. For those who know the dynamics of volleyball and the level of the women's Serie A1, they are instead an eternity. The ko in the final of the Club World Cup, in a fatal tie-break solved 15-7 by a sumptuous Chiaka Ogbogu in favor of the team of the saint Giovanni Guidetti, has however reopened some "wound" never completely healed: if Conegliano wins it is all thanks to the dream team, but when it loses the greatest responsibilities fall on Egonu. It does not matter if the reception is skipped almost always, with the Plummer-Sylla relay to witness it, thus preventing Joanna Wolosz from releasing all her talent at the dribble; or if the power plants suffered a lot in some sets, after dominating far and wide in the world tournament. Egonu is the classic example of the Italian sports scapegoat: one of the atavistic evils of our conception of sport. Perhaps the worst. Perhaps social media, if used to pour hatred and frustration on others, including sportsmen, are completely harmful. Or that the fan's point of view is always out of focus, in a subjectivity dictated by the heart, which makes the supporter a little blind to so much of what happens on any rectangle of the game, from taraflex to parquet, passing through green grass, natural or synthetic. natural or synthetic. It happens then that scoring 35 points may not be enough. Not only to win the game, but also to collect the applause of those who have to comment - for passion or work - on Egonu's performance against VakifBank.

And it also happens to see an Isabelle Haak incensed out of all proportion, who with the same Egonu and in addition to Tijana Boskovic, makes up the podium of the three strongest opposites in the world, but in the final in question, she committed 11 errors, scored fewer points (28) and had a slightly greater efficiency than the blue. We will return to the subject later, but one thing must be said here: in evaluating Egonu compared to the other two volleyball players, there is obviously in all of us a bit of healthy sporting patriotism, which must never result in partiality or, worse, in partisanship. It then becomes difficult, at least for us, to claim with absolute certainty and total evidence that Paola is stronger than Boskovic or Haak. 

Certainly, on the shoulders of Egonu falls the weight of a people who love to chat amiably also and above all about sports and who, often and willingly, do not forgive what in sports is physiological: the defeat. There are no unbeatable teams, nor invincible sportsmen. In team sports, on the other hand, the individual can make the difference, but the cases in which he wins a game or a trophy with exclusivity can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Michael Jordan and not even Diego Armando Maradona succeeded, even if the epic of these sports myths has often made us think that, in their case, it was possible. In volleyball, not even Lorenzo Bernardi or Karch Kiraly won "alone", because the concept of team always precedes individuality. However, when the latter is channeled into the group, it can become overflowing. The concept is as subjective as it is random. Yet the debate is constantly in vogue. In the evaluation of the individual volleyball player, however, there are so many variables that a comparison, especially if extended to different roles, becomes impossible, as well as senseless. If there were a statistic that summarizes in an all-encompassing way the impact of a player on the final result - and that this statistic can be calibrated over the entire sports season, parameterized according to the number of games played and the value of the opponents faced - then we could perhaps significantly reopen the debate. For now, we can limit ourselves to writing that volleyball distinguishes between good players, excellent players and authentic phenomena. In the third category, Egonu falls fully into it. Never seen an Italian player so dominant at an athletic level, with shots of a senseless power and thrown from sidereal heights. Without underestimating the technical base of which the fresh twenty-three-year-old is equipped, with a wealth of plays filled gradually during a career that began between Club Italia and AGIL Novara, but today perhaps completely refined with Conegliano. Paola is certainly part of that volleyball elite that pushes the viewer to become passionate about volleyball, yet continues to divide public opinion. The reason? His being an iconic character at 360 °, even for ideas outside the taraflex. Yet, in evaluating the talent of a volleyball player, one should analyze only the "things of the field", without letting oneself be influenced by the rest. However, this does not happen in a country too often its children and unable to separate the sporting aspect from all the others. Therefore, if Conegliano or Italy lose, the first aspect of the match that is highlighted is Egonu's errors in attack, or the fact that the opposite did not play on his usual standards (which often coincide with 25/30 points scored).

A volleyball madness, in short. Especially if a final is decided by a task - the reception - in which the Lady of Italian volleyball is exempted or by a fundamental - the net one - in which she always gives a great hand to her companions.

IS CONEGLIANO STILL A DREAM TEAM?

The answer can only be one: yes. It will certainly not be a ko at the tie-break, moreover against the rival of all time, to change the evaluation on the team coached by Daniele Santarelli. The same coach will be able to duly analyze the gears that have jumped in the challenge against VakifBank Istanbul, transforming them into extra motivations to resume the triumphant ride of the Panthers. Because perhaps, after a world record and so many trophies put on the bulletin board, burnout can also play an important role in the continuation of the 2021-22 season. Net of the obvious technical errors that there were in the final of the Club World Cup, Imoco must first of all fight with the pressure, not only psychological, deriving from the dream team license. In a big way, what happens individually to Egonu. It would therefore be necessary to protect, also in the media, an excellence that has given prestige to Italian volleyball all over the world, with results out of all logic and with the possibility, still intact, to win everything back, except the Cup just left to others. In the same way, one should count up to a hundred before always and only limiting oneself to the analysis of Egonu's performance to explain a result, victory or defeat, of Conegliano. Paola is a talent to be protected, who knows very well what she lacks to access the volleyball hyperuranium and perhaps rewrite the history of this sport. Making her weigh every single mistake in attack or any joke sent to the net, is certainly not the best way to celebrate it. Although, for some, it seems that this has also become a sport.