At Rold Belluno, Gian Luca Colussi sits on the bench

The former setter (at the time of Serie B) will sit on the bench next year: “The club is ambitious and wants to grow”

BELLUNO

“Maybe it was destiny, maybe it was written in the stars that one day I should return to Belluno.” Gian Luca Colussi is the new coach of Da Rold Logistics Belluno. The former setter of the men’s volleyball team of the capital is the new coach of the A3 series sextet. He is the coach chosen to lead Da Rold Logistics in the next A3 series championship.

In Belluno Colussi had spent two seasons as a player, both in Serie B. In the second, the expert lifter had touched on promotion to A3 (a promotion which, you will remember, had initially vanished losing the double playoff final with Bologna but had then materialized “ex officio” during the summer). Now, here he is again in Belluno, riding the A3 team. “Sometimes to make choices that give results you need courage, madness and recklessness. I think it was a bit like that, in this choice, both on my part and on the part of the club ”, are the first words of Colussi as a new DRL coach. «In the past», he recalls, «I have always coached mainly youth teams, even if this year I got a promotion to Serie B. It was probably the right time to try an experience of this kind. The field will decide. I’m certainly enthusiastic, flattered and I didn’t have to think about it very much ».

What memory do you have of the city and how long did the negotiations that brought you back to the Dolomites last? «In Belluno I lived a very interesting interlude in my life as a volleyball player. This is thanks to the city, the comrades, the group I found here. As for my return, we talked with the club for a few days, a few weeks at the most, to understand how to proceed. This year I was collaborating with Prata and with Futura Cordenons and I had some projects with them. But the call from Belluno made me very happy and in a short time I cleared my mind. I can assure you that the club I am coming to is very ambitious and has a great desire to grow and do well ».

How do you live your new role as manager? «Actually we can say that I have been training for a few years already. The novelty, rather, is the fact of not playing anymore. You get to a point where you feel that it is right to make room for young people. Even if my competitive spirit would lead me to want to play again… ».

How well do you know the team that has been given to you? And have you already started working on the 2022-23 roster? «This year I saw practically all the matches of Belluno: one live, all the others in streaming. I know very well, if only because I have often seen them at work, all the players, even those with whom I had not played. The ideas for next season are there: Da Rold, Da Re and Gallina have clear ideas. We have already started a series of contacts because there will be some pawns to frame. But the base is very, very interesting. After all, this team has just returned from a season which, in turn, had been very interesting. There was an empty passage, but it can happen. Every moment, within a season, is different from the other. What I can assure is that the ideas for the future are there. And they are very beautiful, and very interesting ».