From: dan@quebec (Dan Hanan x6326)
Subject: Re: World League Anybody?
Organization: SAIC
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 03:02:22 GMT

tomoo@hpmctt.mcm.hp.com (Tomoo Taguchi) writes:
: Yes, I'm interested in hearing your first hand observations.  Who played
: on the team?  Did it change much from the olympic team?  Did the
: Italian, Dutch, or Cuban teams change much since the olympics?  How do
: you think Brazil would have played against the teams in the Final Four?
: How did you guys play?  In your opinion, did the best teams win?  What's
: happening to the National team in the near future?  Who is on it?  Any
: other first hand knowledge would be greatly appreciated.
: 
: Thanks,
: 
: Tomoo

The team was basically the same team that was at the Olympics, with two 
changes:  Uvaldo Acosta and myself (Dan Hanan) were there instead of
Steve Timmons and Carlos Briceno.  
The starting lineup for both matches was:
Greenbaum (s), Samuelson (mb), Ctvrtlik (sw), Hilliard (opp), Partie (mb),
Fortune (sw).  We played terribly the first night.  Sided out fine, with some
real good passing by Fortune/Ctvrtlik, but couldn't score any points.  We got
plenty of soft blocks (touched ball into our own court), but couldn't get
good swings to score the point.

The other teams had the same teams they had at the Olympics.  Italy played
well both nights, although they played their best vball in a while in the 
4th game of the finals against Cuba.  Cuba played well the first night to 
hammer HOL, but then slowed down in the finals, as they have in all       
tournament finals in the past couple years (lost to ITA in W.L. finals last
year too.)  

It's hard to say how Brazil would have done.  Just the fact that they didn't
make it to the final four shows you how streaky and inconsistent they are.
They typically play really well at home, with their wild crowds, etc. so 
we were all shocked that they played so well at the Olympcs. They've always
had the talent and personnel, but too streaky.  

The team in changing daily now.  We left Bryan Ivie in Italy to start his
first season in the professional Italian leagues  (A1 division), but he came
back this week due to increased swelling in his knee (injury from the Olympics
that had surgery Aug 12) to get 2nd opinions.  Bob Ctvrtlik and Scott Fortune
were both sealing up deals to play over there, and will most likely be gone
this next week.  Bob Samuelson had a deal to play in A2 division, and was 
supposed to leave tomorrow, but is not going any longer - for reasons 
unknown at this point.  Rumor is that Steve Timmons is going to go on the    
Japan tour next month, and it looks like Partie will play for the time being,
although he may miss the Japan tour.  

Bottom line:  You've got to stay tuned, because things are always changing.
I just heard a lot of this from Sammy (Samuelson) 10 mins ago on the phone.

That's about it for now....
Fell free to post more questions....happy to udate you all.
Interest in the National Volleyball program is important.

FYI, the Japan tour mentioned above includes the following stops:

Wed Oct 14  -  Moody Col.           DALLAS, TX
Fri Oct 16  -  Target Center        MINNEAPOLIS, MN
Sat Oct 17  -  Mad. Square Garden   NEW YORK, NY  
Tue Oct 20  -  St. Louis Arena      ST. LOUIS, MO

-Dan Hanan
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dan@quebec.saic.com
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Newsgroups: rec.sport.volleyball