| Late on Monday, a plane from Milan landed in Belgorod, taking the Champions League winners on a charter flight to the hometown. Italy was left behind, shocked by the ease with which Lokomotiv-Belogorye defeated their strongest club, Modena. The authoritative La Gazzetta dello Sport wrote after the match: “The time has come to radically reconsider our volleyball economy. Otherwise, after every tournament we will watch Gennady Shipulin dance.” The Belgorod team's mentor, dancing in front of a section of our fans on an empty court, is one of the most vivid memories of the triumph. This funny episode began the conversation between Vremya Novostei newspaper columnist Vladimir STETSKO and Lokomotiv-Belogorye head coach Gennady SHIPULIN.
- That dance was pure impromptu. It would be more accurate to say - a state of mind. Like the fact that I gave my tie to an elderly Polish volleyball fan. The Polish fans supported us greatly during the final match.
— In recent years, your teams have increasingly given cause for joy.
- Nevertheless, this victory is especially dear to me. Our club volleyball has always had enormous authority, then there were years of timelessness, now the period of restoration begins. My colleague Boris Kolchin and I have already achieved some success in the Russian national team, and we really wanted to win both at the international level and with the club. After all, I have been working with Belogorye for almost 20 years, and the path to this success began with a student team.
- Having won the winning point, the team was already hugging and rejoicing, but for some reason the referee gave the ball to the Italians. How did you feel at that moment?
“ There was simply no time for indignation or other emotions.” I immediately took a minute break. The guys were on edge, someone could say something to the referee, and he would punish him with a yellow card and a point. The score would become 24:24 with all the ensuing consequences. It was important to prevent this from happening, and I didn’t have any doubts about the final victory for a second.
-What will you strive for now, after the victory?
- Unfortunately, in Milan they told me that the International Volleyball Federation has so far abandoned the idea of holding a club world championship. I think we would not look out of place there. Now I dream of repeating my success in the Champions League, and I would like this to happen in Belgorod. We have repeatedly asked for the right to host the Final Four, but we are invariably refused. Apparently, the Italians have some special arguments.
- Italians are used to seeing all the strongest players in the world in their clubs.
- People have already asked me here who I will sell before the next season. Without thinking for a second, he answered: “No one.” In Belgorod, we have created all the conditions for the players, and the guys themselves don’t want to leave. We are able to pay money no less than in Italy. Another thing is that there may be a need to update the roster if new young talents appear.
- Do they already exist?
- We're working. All my children's teams are Russian champions in their age categories. This season we added Arkady Kozlov and Sergei Baranov from our second team to the squad. Now they are already players of the Russian national team. Having learned that I was planning to play a very important season with the completely inexperienced Baranov in the key position of a diagonal striker, many twirled their fingers at their temples. And in Milan he created a real sensation, and finally Yakovlev had a real competitor in the team. By the way, we brought Baranov himself from the village solely because of his excellent volleyball skills. He had practically no idea about playing technique. We spent four years fiddling with it.
— Where does the club get the money for such a global volleyball pyramid?
-- We receive decent help from the Ministry of Railways. In addition, we earn our own money. Today, the Lokomotiv-Belogorye volleyball club system includes a furniture production, a food processing plant, a transport company, a modern hotel, a top-level restaurant, several shops and cafes. In total, the club employs more than 700 people. So we stand firmly on our feet. Interviewed by Vladimir STETSKO
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