Current state

Since 2006, the FIVB has united 220 national volleyball federations, volleyball is one of the most popular sports on Earth. In August 2008, the Chinese Wei Jizhong was elected as the new president of the FIVB.

Volleyball is the most developed sport in such countries as Russia, Brazil, China, Italy, USA, Japan, Poland. The current world champion among men is the Brazilian team (2006), among women - the Russian team (2006).

Development of volleyball in Russia

As noted by the publication "All About Sports" (1978), volleyball was born overseas, but at first it was a stepson on the American continent. “Our country has become his true homeland. It was in the Soviet Union that volleyball acquired its remarkable qualities. He became athletic, fast, agile, as we know him today.

Pre-war volleyball in the USSR was jokingly called "the game of actors." Indeed, in Moscow, the first volleyball courts appeared in the courtyards of the theaters - Meyerhold, Chamber, Revolution, Vakhtangov. On July 28, 1923, the first official match took place on Myasnitskaya Street, in which the teams of the Higher Art Theater Workshops (VKHUTEMAS) and the State School of Cinematography (GShK) met. From this meeting, the chronology of our volleyball is being conducted. The pioneers of the new sport were the masters of arts, the future People's Artists of the USSR Nikolai Bogolyubov, Boris Shchukin, Anatoly Ktorov and Rina Zelyonaya, the future famous artists Georgy Nissky and Yakov Romas. The level of skill of the actors at that time was not inferior to the sports one - the club "Rabis" (trade union of art workers) beat the team of the sports society "Dynamo" (Moscow).

In January 1925, the Moscow Council of Physical Education developed and approved the first official rules for volleyball competitions. According to these rules, Moscow championships have been regularly held since 1927. An important event in the development of volleyball in our country was the championship played during the first All-Union Spartakiad in 1928 in Moscow. It was attended by men's and women's teams from Moscow, Ukraine, the North Caucasus, Transcaucasia, the Far East. In the same year, a permanent panel of judges was established in Moscow.

For the development of volleyball, mass competitions held at the sites of parks of culture and recreation in many cities of the USSR were of great importance. These games became a good school for foreign guests - in the early 30s, competition rules were published in Germany under the name "Volleyball - a Russian folk game."

In the spring of 1932, a volleyball section was created under the All-Union Council of Physical Culture of the USSR. In 1933, during a session of the Central Executive Committee on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater, an exhibition match between the teams of Moscow and Dnepropetrovsk was played in front of the leaders of the ruling party and the government of the USSR. And a year later, the championships of the Soviet Union, officially called the "All-Union Volleyball Holiday", are regularly held. Having become the leaders of domestic volleyball, Moscow athletes were honored to represent it on the international arena, when Afghan athletes were guests and rivals in 1935. Despite the fact that the games were held according to Asian rules, the Soviet volleyball players won a landslide victory - 2:0 (22:1, 22:2).

During the Great Patriotic War, volleyball continued to be cultivated in military units. Already in 1943, volleyball courts in the rear began to come to life. Since 1945, the championships of the USSR have been resumed, and volleyball has become one of the most popular sports in our country. The number of people involved in volleyball was estimated at 5-6 million (and according to some sources, several times more). As the legendary coach Vyacheslav Platonov notes in his book The Equation with Six Known Ones, “those days, those years are unimaginable without volleyball. A ball flying through a net stretched between two pillars (trees, racks) had a magical effect on teenagers, on boys and girls, on brave warriors who returned from the battlefield, on those who were drawn to each other. And then everyone was drawn to each other. Volleyball was played in yards, parks, stadiums, on the beaches... Together with amateurs, recognized masters - Anatoly Chinilin, Anatoly Eingorn, Vladimir Ulyanov - did not hesitate to go to the net. Thanks to such a mass character, schoolchildren who took the ball in their hands for the first time quickly grew into real stars of Soviet and world volleyball.

USSR championship competitions were held exclusively in open areas, most often after football matches in the neighborhood of stadiums, and major competitions, such as the 1952 World Cup, were held in the same stadiums with crowded stands.

In 1947, Soviet volleyball players entered the international arena. At the first World Youth Festival in Prague, a volleyball tournament was held, in which the Leningrad team participated, strengthened, as was then customary, by Muscovites. The national team was led by legendary coaches Alexei Baryshnikov and Anatoly Chinilin. Our athletes won 5 matches with a score of 2:0, and only the last 2:1 (13:15, 15:10, 15:7) against the hosts, the Czechoslovak national team. The first "female" departure took place in 1948 - the metropolitan team "Lokomotiv" went to Poland, supplemented by colleagues from the Moscow "Dynamo" and "Spartak" and the Leningrad Spartak team. In the same 1948, the All-Union Volleyball Section became a member of the International Volleyball Federation (and not American, but our rules of the game formed the basis of international ones), and in 1949, our players took part in official international competitions for the first time. The debut turned out to be "golden" - the USSR women's team won the title of European champion, and the men's team won the world championship. In 1959, the USSR Volleyball Federation was formed.

Our men's team also became the first Olympic champion in Tokyo 1964. She also won the Olympics in Mexico City (1968) and in Moscow (1980). And the women's team four times (1968, 1972, 1980 and 1988) won the title of Olympic champion.

Soviet volleyball players are 6-time world champions, 12-time European champions, 4-time World Cup winners. The women's team of the USSR won 5 World Championships, 13 European Championships, and 1 World Cup.

The All-Russian Volleyball Federation (VVF) was founded in 1991. The president of the federation is Nikolay Patrushev. The Russian men's team is the winner of the 1999 World Cup and the 2002 World League. The women's team won the 2006 World Championship, the European Championships (1993, 1997, 1999, 2001), the Grand Prix (1997, 1999, 2002), the 1997 World Champions Cup.

Under the auspices of the FIVB

The Olympic Games are held every 4 years. The World Championship is also held every 4 years. The World Champions Cup is held every 4 years. The World League is held once a year. The Grand Prix is ​​held once a year. Under the auspices of the CEV, the European Championship is held every 2 years.

On its 82nd birthday on May 25, the Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater opened its doors to the audience and let them into its bowels: onto the stage and even under the roof. More than two thousand people who signed up for the tour saw the Bolshoi from the inside and learned how it prepares for performances, how rehearsals are held and how the scenery is created.

"When you do something for the first time, everyone considers it a gamble. So it was with the Christmas Opera Forum, the Grand Ball, the evenings of the Bolshoi Theater in the Radziwill Castle, the International Vocal Competition ... Everything happens for the first time, and then everything good becomes a tradition", - said on a solemn day the general director of the Bolshoi Theater Vladimir Gridyushko in your office.

Even in winter, an internal competition of proposals was announced on how to celebrate the theater's birthday. Among other ideas, the head of marketing and advertising Tatyana Aleksandrova and Deputy General Manager Svetlana Kazyulina offered to show the inner life of the Bolshoi that day.

"When a person comes to the theater, he sees everything in a festive format. But not everyone can understand what it means to create a performance. This is hard labor", - Vladimir Gridyushko explained why he liked the idea. This idea was brought to the attention of visitors on the holiday by 20 guides, specially trained theater employees.

Back in the 1920s, an opera and ballet troupe, a choir and an orchestra operated on the basis of the BDT-1. In 1924, a musical technical school was established, and a year later, opera and ballet departments appeared on the basis of the technical school. Then, in 1930, an opera and ballet studio appeared, and on May 25, 1933, the premiere of the opera Carmen by the then State Opera and Ballet Theater of the BSSR took place on the stage of the current Kupala Theater. The main part was performed by Larisa Pompeevna Alexandrovskaya. It is noteworthy that the opera was in Belarusian, Carmen was the heroine of the proletariat, and the smugglers fought against injustice. In 1935, "Carmen" was staged again, also in the Belarusian language, but without the proletarian flair.

In 1939, the current building of the Bolshoi Theater was built, and Mikhas Padgorny became the first opera. Together with "The Flower of Happiness" and the ballet "The Nightingale" it was shown in 1940 at the decade of Belarusian art in Moscow. Then the theater received the title of Bolshoi. In 1964, the theater was awarded the title of academic, and in 1996 - national.

On June 14, the eighth production of "Carmen" in the history of the theater will take place at the Bolshoi. The theater administration revealed the secret and said that the artists were learning flamenco and sevillana.

Winding through the corridors of the theater, we find ourselves on a stage of 600 square meters without a backstage (at the back of the stage, a reserve room for scenery that creates the illusion of depth; with it, the stage area is 800 square meters. – TUT.BY) .

If there is no performance, the stage is covered with a fire curtain. Mechanic Anatoly specially on the day of open doors raised the barrier for a while, and the auditorium appeared - at first glance it is so small from the stage.

On the stage itself there are seven tripods with spotlights and four more side towers for lighting. Each spotlight rotates in any plane independently of the other. This allows you to create the necessary lighting for the performance. All the mechanics of the stage are controlled by an electronic remote control and a touch screen. There are 21 platforms under the stage, which can rise separately and change the slope. The stage itself, according to the rules, has a slope of 4 degrees.

The chandelier in the auditorium, 4 meters in diameter and weighing 1200 kg, consists of 30,000 pendants, 500 light bulbs connected with 1 km of wires. After the season closes, the chandelier is lowered, and one can be sure that it is two times the height of a man.

With the fire curtain up

Scene without fire curtain. After the reconstruction of the theater, which took place from 2006 to 2009, the structures were fixed. There is a schedule for regular inspection of the premises, when the slightest changes are measured.

There is a small props room near the stage so that cups, swords, sabers, masks and bottles for stage feasts are at hand.

On the day of open doors, the theater was preparing for the evening ballet "Sleeping Beauty". In the scene, a safe was lifted from the floor, in which soft scenery is stored. Each of the four tiers contains three sets of decorations. All of them are signed so that the workers know which beam to tie the drapery to.

The upper part of the theater stage is the grate. They are high above the stage and lined with bars to lower the scenery. Frankly, even on a flat floor, you feel uncomfortable and your legs give way when you look down through the cracks. In the grate there are motors capable of lifting up to 1 kg of scenery.

Grids. The most mystical room under the roof of the Bolshoi.

More than 40 thousand costumes for performances are stored under the roof. Looping in the corridors with the dresser Natalia Kharabrova, we are talking about the labyrinths of the theater.

According to her, in the first year of work, the employees themselves are lost. But the turnover in the theater is small, people have been working for decades, so they navigate almost intuitively, including in the room with costumes.

Natalya herself already remembers by heart where the costume is stored. It’s hard to believe this for an inexperienced person, because without training in such a mass of costumes, even with the signatures of each row, it would be difficult to find something. We went to the largest warehouse, and there are 11 more in the theater, but smaller in size.

250-300 costumes can be involved in one performance, and this day is busy for the costume designer: all the costumes are carried by hand or on trolleys. " The dresser must have a good memory in order to remember where which sock, handkerchief", - says Natalya Kharabrova.

Periodically, a sanitation station comes to the warehouses and processes them so that moths do not start up and there is no dust. After the performance, some costumes are washed, and some are dry-cleaned, some are washed by hand in a special laundry. According to the costume designer, all the outfits for the performance are unique, "it is impossible to repeat them," for this reason the theater does not rent them out - it's like a work of art. And some costumes have been kept for decades, like, for example, the leather costumes for the ballet "Spartacus" - they have been in the Bolshoi since the 80s.

However, the theater will not be limited to opening doors. The birthday boy is already preparing certificates for performances by the next season. According to the director, when they give tickets to the theater, a person does not always have the opportunity to go to a specific performance at a specific time. The certificate will allow you to buy any ticket for any time for the specified amount.

Two versions of the same love story. There is a high-profile premiere at the Bolshoi Theater - the ballet "Romeo and Juliet" directed by Alexei Ratmansky. New look and new choreography. At the same time, the legendary work of Yuri Grigorovich remained in the repertoire. His "Romeo and Juliet" has been on the playbill for decades.

Love that is stronger than death. Words are superfluous here - only music and movements. Choreographer Alexei Ratmansky already staged this production of Romeo and Juliet six years ago in Toronto, Canada. Now ballet in the classical manner, on pointe shoes, is shown by artists of the Bolshoi Theater. And such eloquent body language seems to require no translation.

“She falls in love with him when he stands in front of her while still wearing a mask. She does not even see this face, but this look radically changes her whole life, ”says Anastasia Stashkevich, prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater, about her heroine.

The legendary ballet has been on the posters of the Bolshoi for several decades. Yuri Grigorovich staged it for the first time in 1979. And 30 years later he released a completely different, updated performance.

And now the premiere is again in the main theater of the country. Three compositions are rehearsing at once.

“This is a story for all time. Despite the costumes, still historically close, our emotions are still different from those times that Shakespeare wrote,” said Bolshoi Theater Premier Vladislav Lantratov.

The choreography by Alexei Ratmansky is considered to be technically particularly difficult. In ballet, they say about his work: he puts on almost every beat.

“He also multiplies and develops classical dance, as the great Balanchine did. It would seem that there is still a pure, classical form of dance after Petipa and Fokine. And here is a follower - Alexei Ratmansky,” says the head of the ballet troupe of the Bolshoi Theater Mahar Vaziev.

Around "Romeo and Juliet" since the moment when Sergei Prokofiev created the score, serious passions flared up. Unusual music seemed too difficult for the artists and the orchestra. And the ending, where, according to the composer's intention, the young lovers remain alive, Prokofiev had to completely remake it into a tragic one. But it is this music that has been inspiring for almost 80 years.

The famous run of Galina Ulanova. Her Juliet is considered a reference. In London's Covent Garden in 1956, when the Bolshoi Theater first went on tour, English ladies and gentlemen gave a standing ovation to the performance of the ballerina, completely forgetting about manners, and without waiting for the queen to leave the hall. The British press will write about this: "We met with three geniuses at once: Shakespeare, Prokofiev and Ulanova."

Choreographers from all over the world turned to Prokofiev's score. Juliet was danced by the inimitable Maya Plisetskaya and the Italian Alexandra Ferri at La Scala. Ballet fans have seen "Romeo and Juliet" by Angelin Preljocaj and Declan Donnellan. Innovator Mauro Bigozetti brought nine Romeos and nine Juliets onto the stage at once in an attempt to understand the causes of the tragedy. In vain. In this story, it seems impossible to put an end to it.

“Each choreographer hears music differently. Prokofiev said: if the ballet followed the music more precisely, the result would be much better,” says conductor Pavel Klinichev.

The scenery, where the viewer sees a dream and reality, and what happens in the souls of lovers, for the production of Ratmansky was invented by Richard Hudson, the owner of the prestigious Broadway Tony Award. Drawing this space, the atmosphere for the Russian ballet, Hudson was inspired by the work of Renaissance artists.

“Prokofiev's music perfectly tells the story. I just needed to illustrate it. Combining the silhouette and color of the costumes with the music helps to feel this drama,” says production designer Richard Hudson.

According to Ratmansky, Juliet wakes up before Romeo dies, and this is an opportunity to remember Prokofiev's original plan. Time, eras and generations of dancers are changing, but this love story, over which time has no power, excites today's audience.

"A prince with a huge neck will look weird." How the soloist of the Bolshoi Theater trains

For many, a man in ballet is not associated with physical strength, but many would not be able to do even half of what is required of a ballet dancer even during an ordinary number. Bolshoi Theater soloist Igor Tsvirko may be telling Match TV about this.

If in the play "La Bayadère" we look at the number "Dance with Drums" through the eyes of a fitness trainer, we will see how the soloist Igor Tsvirko, who calls this number one of the most difficult, will make several accelerations and rotations around his axis in 163 seconds. Perform about 30 swings with a straight leg, throwing the foot above the head, perform a dozen high jumps and jump about 50 times on one leg, making a short swing with the other leg. At the end of the number, he will need to look into the audience and smile. Igor says that, in fact, at this moment "the larynx is on fire, and the lungs insistently want to go outside and cool down."

If you look at Igor Tsvirko himself through the eyes of a bodybuilding coach, we will not see anything outstanding in the truest sense of the word. But we will definitely see in him a person who is in better shape than most people who diligently do not understand his art. After all, you have a friend who believes that dancing for a man is wrong.

Despite this, the ballet dancer, in addition to cosmic coordination, also needs flexibility, endurance, form and strength. You need to be able to sit on the splits, perform support when you lift a partner weighing 45-48 kg over your head, smiling at the same time. You need to jump high and not suffocate by the fifth minute of the number. And this is much more difficult to combine than to argue which grip is better for deadlifting. Igor has been dancing at the Bolshoi for nine years and periodically visits the gym. We decided to find out why.

Pull-ups

If you have narrow shoulders and a thin back, you will look small on stage, so you need the letter V (usually in bodybuilding, this is how the contours of the latissimus dorsi are called, in a simplified way - lines running from the waist to the armpits. - “Match TV”). I am naturally not very large, and in order to correct the appearance, I had to develop my back and shoulders some time ago.

I pulled myself up in four sets and between each rested a minute for a stopwatch. I pulled up with a direct and reverse grip 9-12 times. For some time I was engaged in one of the programs to increase the number of pull-ups, but they, unfortunately, bother me. The only caveat here is that in ballet you can’t just gain mass, as is customary in bodybuilding, because flexibility and plasticity must be preserved. So I started doing less on the same bar when I got the top to a shape that at least suited me, my guide, and hopefully the spectator. The risk is that if you do more, the trapezoid (muscles that go from the neck to the shoulders. - “Match TV”) can grow, the amount of movement will decrease and the aesthetic form of perception of you as an artist will change. For example, a prince with a royal posture will not look very good if his neck disappears due to developed trapezius muscles.

Raising the legs in an emphasis on the uneven bars

Rotational elements are a press. It needs to be kept in tune. I did the classic “corner”, 3-4 sets of 10-12 times, and kept the body in this position several more times, that is, I gave a static load, because it seems to me that it gives more strength. In fact, in many numbers you are in a tunic (the upper part of a ballet costume. - “Match TV”), no one will see your cubes there, so just the general muscle tone is more important.

Push-ups on the uneven bars

It is believed that bodyweight exercises are optimal when you need muscle tone, but do not need extra mass. I did the same as with pull-ups, several approaches of 10-12 times, according to sensations. Triceps work here, pectoral muscles are activated, and the hand is partially strengthened.

Bench press in the simulator

Usually I put about 60-70 kg. And again, I did more times so that the muscles remained in good shape, looked noticeable on the body, but at the same time they did not overwork and did not lose mobility. In fact, if I were offered another three to four hours a week for additional workouts, I would just spend them working on my chest. I made the chest more outlined, a little larger and a little more prominent, although on stage you are more often in clothes, so the relief of the chest is not so noticeable, but you should not upload a hand that is often bare. If the biceps and triceps increase, the arm will visually lose in length, which is not very good for the external effect.

Standing press

It may seem to someone that in order to perform support, you just need to work in the gym, work out this element using a barbell. It's a delusion. Yes, your partner's weight can be 43-45 and even 48 kg. In general, it is believed that a ballerina heavier than 50 kg is not allowed to duet dance. But, in fact, I have never done a bench press in the classic version and with the weight that a dancer usually has. We have guys who even lift 80 kg in the gym, but this is more likely for general muscle tone.

Let me explain - you start dancing duets from the school, where the weight of your partner is less due to age. You learn from the simplest lifts, and it turns out that gradually the weight of your partner will increase, just because of age and you get used to it.

In general, weight is not important at all. Your partner still helps you, you need to feel the pace and master the technique. To raise a girl above yourself, it is not necessary to work hard in the gym with a barbell, it is more important to understand the principle of how to take it, at what moment to apply maximum effort. Developed brushes are needed (Igor takes out a classic carpal expander from his pocket: “Always with me”). Just lifting 50 kg might work, but if you need to lift a person in a certain position without dropping them and still look at the audience and smile, it will be much more difficult.

We have an old weight from Soviet times. It seems that it weighs 16 kg, and this is not even a sports weight, but for setting up some kind of scenery. Sometimes I train with her, but here it’s not the weight that matters, but the technique: firstly, so that the muscles catch the movement, and secondly, so that they get used to static tension. That is, I make sure to pause at the top of the lift. I pick it up and do 8-14 half squat reps.

leg press

O! Here is a great exercise. To be honest, we recently got this simulator, but in general, you can work out both the ankles and the surface of the thigh on it. Although I didn’t swing my legs on purpose, I had a good predisposition for jumping, plus, I play football, there are accelerations, so my legs are in good shape. In Soviet times, they put up a bench and made a series of jumps: on it, through it, on one leg.

Do the classic powerlifting squat? It is unlikely to significantly increase the height of the jump, but it can strengthen the muscles.

Rubber band exercises: hands

I use a lot of exercises with rubber, they both warm up and put a load on the muscles. Here the shoulder, forearm works, even the back muscles are included. Unfortunately, recently there have been more cases when the guys' shoulders fly out. I also had problems, and the doctor advised me to work with rubber. This is not the most serious load, but, again, it keeps the muscles elastic and leaves them in good shape. Well, then, if you do the exercise 12-15 times in repetition for each arm, with good tension, you will still feel that it is not easy.

Push ups

I do push-ups using chairs as stops so that there is more amplitude. And I change their position so that the emphasis with my hands is obtained with different widths. At one time I tested the “100 push-ups” system; there it was necessary to do several times a week a different number of repetitions in five sets. And it turned out that in total you constantly increased the number of times. I got to about 120 in total, in five sets, and gave up. Now I do three to four sets of 12-14 reps. But there is a difference when you train and when there is no time for strengthening exercises. Muscles work differently, I can feel it. It's just a question of laziness, free time, how tired you are during work.

Band exercises: calf, ankle

One of the most important elements for a ballet dancer is the pumping of the foot. You take a rubber expander with both hands, sitting on the floor, and straighten and pull on the sock. Here, the calf muscle works for us and the muscles and ligaments inside the foot are strengthened. Plus, we prepare the foot for the rotational elements that we require as we work. The only thing I can’t tell you is a specific number of repetitions and approaches. Almost everything has to be done until you feel slight muscle fatigue. I do this regularly, before a lesson (in ballet, a lesson is a 60-minute lesson in a ballet class, where dancers repeat and hone the technique of basic positions and elements, combining them in various combinations - “Match TV”).

plank

Since both rotations and lifts require healthy back and lower back muscles, I try to do the plank regularly, although I don’t really like it, but my wife and work require it. I usually stand for thirty minutes, trying to keep a straight line from the shoulders to the heels and keep the press in tension. Here - I think everyone knows this - our abdominal muscles are strengthened, and the shoulders, back and buttocks receive a static load.

Stretching

This is not my forte, but it is desirable to stretch every day. The ability of a person to sit on the twine, in general, depends on the predisposition: there are overweight people, but they stretch pretty well, there are thin, but with inelastic muscles. Today this is necessary for a dancer: if in the 30s a man in ballet could not jump in a twine, then over time the canons changed. For me, stretching today is more about keeping fit, because stretching starts at the age of ten, and you, while still a young man, should be able to do the splits.

If you now decide for some reason to master this element, it is better to start with tilts to the legs, then put one leg on some surface and reach for it. Then try to sit lower from time to time. Two points: the main thing is not to make very sudden movements and practice regularly. The nuance of stretching is that for progress it is better to do it seven days a week.

P.S. 5 naive questions

What diet?

If you have a lesson six days a week and then a few more hours of rehearsal, this is very high physical activity, so almost everything you eat is gone. Even many of the girls do not adhere to strict diets, as is commonly believed. For example, I just try to eat less junk food and eat as healthy as possible a few days before a performance. If you dance in white, in principle, you become more visually, and therefore an extra kilogram becomes really superfluous.

I do not use sports nutrition, but if you go into the dressing room, you will see that we have a large can of protein, some guys take it.

The best age?

The peak of the form, it seems to me, comes from 24-25 and lasts until about 33 years old, this is the moment when you can jump very well, perform trick elements and at the same time you already have enough experience.

Can there be training with athletes?

I didn't train specifically, but it would be interesting why not. Just compare the scope of work, understand who uses what approach. My sister is a fitness instructor and sometimes she shows such sets of exercises that I think I would never repeat them. At the same time, somewhere on vacation, one could try, see how the body reacts. In general, maybe it would give a result in relation to performances.

There is also such practice as classes in the gym or just in the hall with a soft surface, with mats, for practicing trick elements: somersaults, somersaults. No one teaches this, does not force it, but if you want to improve, you buy yourself a pass to the gym and work it out. Accordingly, in some numbers you can use.

Do cardio? There are treadmills in the hall, but by the end of the five-minute number you will still run out of steam and it is difficult to prepare yourself for this. In principle, when you rehearse it, you are just preparing your heart and lungs for the loads that await you.

Recovery procedures and control?

They say that earlier scientists were more interested, the dancers' pulse was measured during the performances, there were some other studies. Now I have not encountered this. The height of the jump is also not measured, although it would probably be interesting to see, to check if there is any progress. In the gym, we have a trainer who advises when you realize that you need to work with iron. At the same time, he realizes that we need to make allowances for our specifics.

The bath is the best. We often go for preventive purposes. When you feel that the muscles are clogged, the body is heavy, it helps a lot.

Vacation?

It's funny how the body gets used to work. I know from my own experience that three or four days of idleness are enough on vacation, and I’m already starting to want to work out somehow. You feel like you're regressing. But it's still okay. Here we are talking to you now, and if you had come a little earlier (at 10 am - “Match TV”), you could have seen Mikhail Lavrovsky and Yuri Vladimirov doing a lesson and could also do push-ups, jump, work out rotations. And when you look at them, you understand what it is to devote yourself to ballet (Mikhail Lavrovsky and Yuri Vladimirov, People's Artists of the USSR, ballet dancers, both work at the Bolshoi Theater at the age of 74. - "Match TV").

Text: Vadim Tikhomirov

A photo: Andrey Golovanov and Sergey Kivrin

In 1984, Paul Libo was replaced as FIVB President by Dr. Rubén Acosta, a lawyer from Mexico. At the initiative of Ruben Acosta, numerous changes were made to the rules of the game, aimed at increasing the entertainment of the competition. On the eve of the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, the 21st FIVB Congress took place, at which changes were made to the rules of the decisive fifth game: now it must be played according to the “rally point” (“draw point”) system. Since 1998, this scoring system has been applied to the entire match, in the same year the role of libero appeared.

In the early 1980s, the jump serve appeared and the side serve almost ceased to be used, the frequency of attacking strikes from the back line increased, there were changes in the methods of receiving the ball - the previously unpopular reception from below became dominant, and the reception from above with a fall almost disappeared. The game functions of volleyball players have narrowed: for example, if earlier all six players were involved in the reception, then since the 1980s, the implementation of this element has become the responsibility of two players.

The game has become more powerful and faster. Volleyball has increased the requirements for the growth and athletic training of athletes. If in the 1970s the team could not have a single player taller than 2 meters at all, then since the 1990s everything has changed. In high-class teams below 195-200 cm, usually only a setter and a libero.

Since 1990, the World Volleyball League has been played, an annual competition cycle designed to increase the popularity of this sport around the world. Since 1993, a similar competition has been held for women - the Grand Prix.

3. State of the art

Since 2006, the FIVB has united 220 national volleyball federations, volleyball is one of the most popular sports on Earth. In August 2008, the Chinese Wei Jizhong was elected as the new president of the FIVB.

Volleyball as a sport is most developed in such countries as Russia, Brazil, China, Italy, USA, Japan, Poland. The current world champion among men is the Brazilian team (2006), among women - the Russian team (2006).

November 8, 2009, the current winner of the European Volleyball Champions League, the Italian "Trentino" won another trophy, becoming the world club champion.

4. Development of volleyball in Russia

In the spring of 1932, a volleyball section was created under the All-Union Council of Physical Culture of the USSR. In 1933, during a session of the Central Executive Committee on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater, an exhibition match between the teams of Moscow and Dnepropetrovsk was played in front of the leaders of the ruling party and the government of the USSR. And a year later, the championships of the Soviet Union, officially called the "All-Union Volleyball Holiday", are regularly held. Having become the leaders of domestic volleyball, Moscow athletes were honored to represent it on the international arena, when Afghan athletes were guests and rivals in 1935. Despite the fact that the games were held according to Asian rules, the Soviet volleyball players won a landslide victory - 2:0 (22:1, 22:2).

Competitions for the championship of the USSR were held exclusively in open areas, most often after football matches in the neighborhood of stadiums, and major competitions, such as the 1952 World Cup, were held in the same stadiums with crowded stands.

Soviet volleyball players are 6-time world champions, 12-time European champions, 4-time World Cup winners. The USSR women's team won 5 World Championships, 13 European Championships, and 1 World Cup.

The All-Russian Volleyball Federation (VVF) was founded in 1991. The president of the federation is Nikolai Patrushev. The Russian men's team is the winner of the 1999 World Cup and the 2002 World League. The women's team won the 2006 World Championship, the European Championships (1993, 1997, 1999, 2001), the Grand Prix (1997, 1999, 2002), the 1997 World Champions Cup.