As an international player standing only at just 6’2, I was considered an undersized player (at least for the international standards).
Because of that, for me to reach my goals of becoming an international/pro/Olympian I started looking for ways to separate myself from athletes that were taller, stronger, faster than me.
I soon realized that my discipline and work ethic would potentially help me achieve my dreams but yet, as a 15 years old boy, when I started playing volleyball I wasn’t sure how my elite journey would look like.
My seek started the same year I began playing volleyball in 1996. In October of that year, I made one of the most important decisions in my life. I convinced my dad to take a bus and travel 500 miles from our small town to Venezuela’s capital (Caracas). I wanted to ask the Venezuelan National Team Head Coach for a chance to be part of the Venezuelan National Team Youth Program.
Coach David Suarez (a former Cuban Olympic medalist in Montreal’76) was intrigued by my audacity to take such a long trip just to ask for a shot. He stood for about one minute (that seemed like a day for me) looking at me. He was looking at how I could fit in the program as I didn’t have the size and body of an international athlete.
After that long minute of observation, he took my arms and turned my palms upwards, and said: “I’ll give you one week to try, and let’s see what happens”. Now I was the one who was intrigued. Why he was looking at my arms?
I know now that he noticed that, my forearms were disproportionately big for my body. That gave him a glimpse of my potential as a passer. He wasn’t wrong.
During that week, coach Suarez made me do thousands of passes against the wall. At some point, I asked him why I was expending that absurd amount of time passing against the wall. He said to me that passing is the only skill that would make me valuable for the program because of my size and body composition. In other words, he said: if you want to be an international player you must be a terrific passer.
From that moment, I became obsessed with passing. Luckily, coach Suarez allowed me to stay with the team after that week and I could make a 20-year volleyball career – where I achieved my goals of becoming an international/Pro and Olympian.
In my international and professional career, I was known for two things: a. my out-of-the-norm work ethic and b. my selfless way of playing back row.
I was a legit beast doing the ‘dirty job” of passing balls that more than often weren’t mine, I also use to pick the “impossible” balls as well as diligently cover the hitters. Most importantly, I became a trusted player for my coaches and teammates (especially the setters:) because of my consistency in serve receive.
Serve receive helped me become a well-rounded volleyball player whether I was playing libero or an all-around outside hitter.
In fact, I was recognized several times as one of the best passers in different international and professional competitions.
The same way coach Suarez told me that passing was the only chance I had to become an elite player, I must tell you that if you’re a DS a Libero, or an all-around hitter; if you’re looking to play high-level volleyball (college, pro, internationally or in the Olympics) you must become an outstanding passer – especially in serve receive.
To help you become an elite passer, I put together a FREE eBook that will help you become a terrific passer so you can reach your goals of becoming an elite volleyball player – regardless of how that goal looks for you.
This short eBook will upgrade your knowledge of passing fundamentals, as well as the different types of passing footwork and the different passing angles. This guide will also teach you how to overhead pass and show you why your hands and fingers can be your best ally when it comes to passing.
This eBook will also unveil my top secrets, tips, and tricks of serve receive which is by far the most important type of passing and the one you need to be a master.
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