Carlo Sati, the Italian fitness coach of the Iran’s men volleyball team, with 22 years of national and international coaching experience under his belt, told the Tehran Times in an exclusive interview after the Iran-U.S. volleyball match on Sunday that Iran’s goal is to hold on to its position and stay the best team in the world.

The games, held at the packed 12,000 spectators Azadi Stadium in Tehran, resulted in Iran’s victory 3-0 on Sunday as well as on Friday.
The Iranian team demonstrated a very strong play on all facets of the play; although they didn’t seemed physically as strong as their American opponents.

When asked about this comparison Coach Sati said he said that his team showed a good physical condition in the games.
He added, “There is a big confusion. In volleyball when they talk about the physical condition, they speak so much about the height of the players and their muscularity. Iranian players for sure weren’t as tall as the American players, as the U.S. Coach John Speraw also pointed, but we are faster and my players jump almost one meter.”

Carlo Sati admired his team for putting hours into their daily workouts.
“It is not easy to work out every day. The period of their physical activities depends on the match the players are going to have,” he told the Tehran Times.
“For example, we did five fantastic weeks of physical preparation for Iran-U.S. competition. Each week we had 9 trainings of 2-3 hours. In the mornings they worked with heavy weights, for instance.” He said.
Regarding the previous defeats of Iran to the U.S. volleyball games back in the month of May, coach Sati said that traveling takes its toll on the players’ physical condition.
He continued to say that his team is faced with jet lag when travelling to different countries for competition and that takes time for the players to adapt to the situation.

“Certainly, adaptation played a factor in Iran’s defeat in the Iran-U.S. volleyball game in Los Angeles, two games of 3-1, plus the team lost self-confidence,” he explained adding that “on top of that American volleyball team played a good match.”
However, after that game in the U.S., Sati was hopeful that his team could recover physically day by day and begin adapting to different situations.
“And they did so,” he proudly said.
On the victory of Iran’s volleyball team on Sunday, the Italian coach also said that “nobody expected this win today.”
“The work we did last year and this year is paying off,” He gladly said.
“But the sport has no mercy”, he said adding that, “once we finish enjoying our win tonight and tomorrow, we’ll have to hit the gym again to prepare for the next match against Poland,”
He expressed hope that his team repeats the fantastic result of last year again.
In the end, Sati thanked his players for following his instructions and having faith and trust in his workout strategies which can change in each competition.
“Our players put their best out there in the court I am proud of them.” He said.
The fitness coach of Iran men’s volleyball team also expressed his gratitude to all the Iranian people for supporting and cheering the volleyball players inside and outside of the arena.