MVP's unite. The Champions League Superfinals Weekend.

Welcome to The VolleyBrains Weekly. The best club teams in the world had their showdown this weekend...but

Here's what we've got this week

• A new practice session is now LIVE!

• Paola Egonu...the MVP

• The real, real MVP?

• A little tear jerker to end with today

Press the 'Read Online' link at the top right to open in your browser and enjoy the best viewing experience.🫡

Practice videos: Alessandro Orefice - Paris St-Cloud

What is actually happening in the training gyms around the world?

Today a new practice video went live with Alessandro Orefice the head coach of Paris St-Cloud Les Mariannes, the French 2nd-ranked team after the 2022-2023 regular season play.

In the article Alessandro talks about:

• the importance and implementation of cover practice into their schedule

• the compounding exercises he uses to improve second touch efficiency

• how he scales up his spikers warming up with a limited training time frame

• the various in's and out's of their playbook

On volleybrains.com we already featured 14+ hours of edited practice videos with pro club coaches, go and check it out!

MVP! MVP! MVP!

This is what scoring at will looks like...

In yesterday's Champions League Super Finals game between the Turkish sides of Eczacibasi Dynavit ISTANBUL and VakifBank ISTANBUL Paola Egonu went off!

These are some of the highlights of her '40 point' performance.

For our American readers who are not closely following the European club scene: The Champions League is just what the name says it is.

The previous year's champions and best-ranked European club teams(smaller competitions have no participants, and the big leagues have up to 3 spots occupied) battling it out to be named the Champion of Europe.

Our Masterclass with Vakifbank's head coach Giovanni Guidetti can be found over here. And with their data analyst Cesar Hernandez Gonzalez over here.

The real, real MVP!

On the men's side Polish powerhouses JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel and Grupa Azoty KĘDZIERZYN-KOŹLE battled it out.

Zaksa won it in the tie-break.

The real MVP of the game only entered in the tie-breaker for 2 rotations, a serve, and...this.

Yeah, we are not even joking here. Zaksa had butchered a match ball in the previous set.

205 cm (6ft7) 'units' also need to be able to drop a free ball on top (or close) of the net. On this level, winning is about details, this was an important one.

Dmytro Pashytskyy, you are the VolleyBrains MVP of the week.🫡

Our Masterclass with Zaksa's head coach Tuomas Sammelvuo can be found over here.

Blackberry Moments - Ernie Johnson

Outside of volleyball I'm a bit of an NBA fan...in case you haven't noticed.😅

This was a nice little clip I only discovered this week, maybe you'll like it. (it has nothing to do with the NBA. 😊

“Inside the NBA,” @ernie.johnson reflects on his career and his family in a note to his younger self:

There is no Weekly Newsletter next week.

See you at the start of June!

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Thanks for your support.

That's a wrap. Have a great week!

Matias