Pink Spiders bring in experienced team to support head coach Marcello Abbondanza

Volleyball

Published: 21 Jun. 2023, 17:06 Updated: 21 Jun. 2023, 17:26

Pink Spiders bring in experienced team to support head coach Marcello Abbondanza

Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders head coach Marcello Abbondanza instructs his players during the second leg of the 2022-23 V League championship against Gimcheon Korea Expressway Hi-Pass at Incheon Samsan World Gymnasium in Incheon on March 31. [NEWS1]

Heungkuk Life Insurance Pink Spiders head coach Marcello Abbondanza shipped in his former coaching staff to join the club on Tuesday, reinforcing his influence ahead of the 2023-24 V League.

The Pink Spiders signed Turkish assistant coach Faruk Feray and Italian physical trainer Ivan Bragani, both of whom have worked alongside Abbondanza before.

Faruk Feray [KOREA VOLLEYBALL FEDERATION]

Feray is an experienced assistant coach, having worked in multiple countries including Turkey, Poland and Germany. He assisted Abbondanza at Fenerbahce from 2014 to 2017, during which the team won the Turkish volleyball league twice in 2015 and 2017.

He also coached then-Fenerbahce player Kim Yeon-koung at the Turkish club and will be reunited with her at the Pink Spiders in the upcoming season.

Bragani is another veteran volleyball figure, with over a decade of experience as assistant coach and physical trainer in Italy from 2003 to 2013. He moved on to work under Abbondanza at the Bulgarian national team.

Ivan Bragani [KOREA VOLLEYBALL FEDERATION]

Abbondanza was quoted by local media Tuesday as saying that he is pleased to work with his former colleagues again and will work to establish a systemic training program for the Pink Spiders.

The appointment of Abbondanza’s former coaching staff comes as the Pink Spiders are looking to sweep two big titles — the league and the championship — next season, after missing the championship last season.

The Pink Spiders saw some success last season despite dropping former head coach Kwon Soon-chan in the middle of the season. The Incheon side played well under then interim head coach Kim Dae-kyung for over a month until they appointed Abbondanza, who led his side to the league title in the end.

He rode that momentum to the championship and was on the verge of securing another trophy, but narrowly missed it after allowing Gimcheon Korea Expressway Hi-Pass to come from two games down to take the title series 3-2.

That loss of the championship made Kim’s desire for the title even bigger and induced her to extend her contract with the team, despite earning free agency for the first time in her career.

She ended up signing a one-year contract extension in April and said through the Pink Spiders’ official YouTube channel that she wants to give it another shot.

The last time the Pink Spiders won both titles was the 2018-19 season, when Kim was playing in Turkey.

The upcoming 2023-24 V League will start on Oct. 14 after the Korean national team finishes three international events — the ongoing Volleyball Nations League, Hangzhou Asian Games and the Olympic qualifiers.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]