Matias Pacini, the current acting coach of the UD Ibiza-Ushuaïa Volley Men’s Superliga, believes that the Ibiza team has “potential” to “move up” in the second round of the league and “rescue” the category at the end of the season.
The islanders, who have only managed two wins this season in the league championship and are struggling to move away from the relegation positions, have nonetheless entered the Christmas break with positive feelings and showing signs of a clear improvement in their game, after defeating the powerful Teruel 3-1 this Saturday in es Viver.
That victory, the second for the Ibizan side in a difficult season, came under the direction of Matias Pacini, who is in his second game as head coach, having replaced former coach Ariel Olmedo, who was fired by the club just a few weeks ago.
“The feelings in the team are much more optimistic after beating Teruel because of the lift it has meant for the players. I think that the team’s growth has began to be noticed in the previous game against Unicaja Almeria because, although we lost, we performed very well,” says Matias Pacini, who adds: In Almeria we overcame a basic technical and tactical difficulty. And since they are better than us, we did not stop competing and playing well against them. And then to leave Teruel in two sets of 17 and 19 points is not something that is easy or accessible to everyone. Right now, for a small team like ours, this is great.” In this regard, Matias Pacini explains his strategy since taking over as manager of the first squad.
“I met with the players to create a long-term strategic, tactical, and game strategy.” The problem is that a team can perform admirably in a set, but then, regardless of the outcome, they are unable to maintain that level throughout the match. That’s why I set out to persuade the players that they could play three sets in a row at a high level. And they had that confidence against Almeria and Teruel, and they delivered, despite the fact that they are two fantastic teams that, in terms of budget and prestige, are on a par with Guaguas.”
With the future yet unknown in UD Ibiza-Ushuaïa Volley
Matias Pacini told Diario de Ibiza that his immediate future as coach of the UD Ibiza-Ushuaïa Volley is “still to be decided,” and that his status as coach of the Superliga squad is “interim” for the time being.
“The situation is that I lead the subsidiary team of First National and I was asked for an interim for these last two games of the year until the club seeks or finds another coach,” qualifies the Rosario-based coach before adding, “I have done my part, which is to turn to the maximum with all my knowledge and everything I know because I am part of the club and the team. In general, I’ll be here as an interim coach until December 30th. I can only say until that time. After that, I can’t say anything else since I’m not sure what’s going to happen.”
Beyond his prospective continuation as coach of the Ibizan club’s first team, Matias Pacini wants to emphasize the work and effort put in by the squad in recent weeks to grow as a team and raise their competitive level.
“The other day, Arthur Borges scored 19 points against Almeria, and the next game, Luca Cuminetti scored 18 points. All the players give us something and everyone contributes in some manner in every game,” says the interim coach of UD Ibiza-Ushuaïa Volley, who also claims that “even if someone plays badly one day, no one ever does everything wrong since something may be done that can be valuable to us.” And it is a leadership role that the entire team must mentally prepare for.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.