José Roberto Guimarães is a volleyball legend. He is the only coach in the sport to have won Olympic gold medals with both male and female national teams. His excellence was once again recognized by the Brazilian Olympic Committee, which awarded him its National Coach of the Year award. This is the fourth time the coach has won the award, which is amazing when you consider that soccer is by far the most popular sport in Brazil.
The award crowns a 2017 season in which Guimarães led Brazil to gold medals at the FIVB Grand Prix and South American Championship. He also won a silver medal with the squad at the FIVB Grand Champions Cup. At the domestic level, he led his new team, Hinode/Barueri, to a promotion to Brazil’s Superliga.
Here is how the coach reacted (Globo.com):
“This award represents what we seek each year, which is to always overcome our limitations. It was very gratifying to find a young group, but one that passed a very positive energy and a fighting spirit that left me very satisfied, as we started to renew the faces at our national team. I just have to thank everyone on my coaching staff for constantly helping me in every way, in attitude, in determination, in strength and in the fact that we never give up. I also thank the players for the energy that they give one another and their desire to be together fighting for a cause. What struck me most about this new group is that they were not the best team in the world, but with their strength we were able to make excellent results at the beginning of the Olympic cycle and hope that this will continue until Tokyo 2020.”
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