Australia add coach Miranda ahead of the VNL

Australia will head to the 2021 FIVB Volleyball Nations League under new management as the Volleyroos have announced Brazilian Marcos Miranda as their head coach for the upcoming international season.

A former volleyball player, Miranda has had an extensive coaching career as he’s already been to four Olympics. He was one of the assistants of Jose ‘Ze’ Roberto Guimaraes during Brazil men’s gold medal campaign at the Barcelona 1992 Games. Miranda also has a lot of experience in beach volleyball, having coached Ana Paula Henkel/Sandra Pires to a fifth-place finish at the Athens 2004 Games.

Miranda, who will replace former coach Mark Lebedew, was most recently coaching Belogorie Belgorod in the Russian League and has also led several men’s teams in his native Brazil. At the international level, he managed Egypt in 2017.

Miranda met with the group of 17 players selected to represent the country in the VNL in Poland, where the Australians are having a training camp ahead of the tournament, which will be played in Rimini, Italy in a secure 'bubble' from May 25.

“I am very excited to begin the work that will start at the training camp in Poland before we go to Rimini for our first tournament together at the VNL,” Miranda said. “It will be a very challenging competition with the best teams in the world, but we will go a thousand percent, doing our best, and enjoying every minute of training to have a great VNL campaign.”

Miranda will count on a strong coaching staff by his side as he’ll have as assistants Liam Sketcher, who’s been involved with the programme since 2017, and former player Paul Carroll, who retired in 2019 after representing the Volleyroos for 15 years. Longtime Brazil strength and conditioning coach Jose Inacio Salles Neto, who won gold in Athens 2004 and silver in silver in Beijing 2008 and London 2012, is also part of the staff.

Libero Luke Perry, who’s part of the team’s roster for the VNL, expressed his excitement with the new start for the programme.

“I can’t wait to play another VNL,” he added. “It’s going to be exciting welcoming a lot of fresh faces into the team including Marcos, who seems really passionate. This is the start of a new cycle and the Olympic qualifiers are just around the corner again. Time to put our head down and get back to work, it’s been far too long since we last played.”

Australia’s first opponent in the VNL will be Germany on May 28. The Volleyroos will face Bulgaria and France respectively on the following two days.

Australia’s 2021 VNL roster

Setters: Arshdeep Dosanjh, Nicholas Butler, Billy Greber

Opposite: Matthew Aubrey

Outside Hitters: Luke Smith, Thomas Douglas-Powell, Oluwatobi Azeez, Max Senica, Ethan Garrett, Tim Taylor, Sam Flowerday

Middle Blockers: Nehemiah Mote, Beau Graham, Trent O’Dea, James Weir, Steven MacDonald

Libero: Luke Perry

Quick links:
FIVB Volleyball Nations League
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