About two months ago VolleyMob comented on Vadim Pankov‘s intention to lobby for Russia’s Women’s National Volleyball team head coach position. His lobbying worked, and he was announced into his new job by Stanislav Shevchekno, president of the Russian Volleyball federation, according to Tass.ru. Allegations have it that he beat out Dinamo Kazan’s Rishat Gilyazutdinov for the job.
Pankov, who has studied under legendary Russian coach Nikolay Karpol, has experienced success at the command of Zarechie Odintsovo. Although not one of Russia’s richest teams, the squad won the following titles under Pankov’s command: 2 Russian Supeleagues (2007-08 and 2009-10), 2 Russian Cups (2006 and 2007), and 1 CEV Challenge Cup (2013-14). In the 2017-18 season, it currently sits in SuperLeague’s 4th place on the standings with a 9-4 record.
This season, his daughter Ekaterina Pankova transfered to Odintsovo from Dynamo Moscow to play under him. Once one of Russia’s most important players, she fell out of favor with former coaches Kezyutkin and Ushakov. She had strong works for her dad’s candidacy for the head coaching job, and with his appointment, she should once again spearhead the squad’s offense.
Pankov is no stranger to Russian national teams, having coached successfully at the youth level and at the university level. With the university national team, he won the 2015 and 2017 Universiade.
Here is what Shevchenko had to say about the signing:
“In his proposals, Vadim Pankov placed more emphasis on work with young players, which will enable us to roll out a new team before the Olympic Games in 2020 in Tokyo. Russia has very good youth players, and we will trust him. The coaching staff will remain the same, the only question is who will be the physical training coach.The contract with Pankov is designed for two years. He will also be able to continue working with Odintsovo.”
Pankov’s biggest duty as Russia’s NT coach will be to revitalize the team and rescuing its prestige from the pits of irrelevancy it fell on its past few season. It will be a very tough challenge, as he will have but a few months to get the squad ready for the 2018 FIVB World Championships.
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It is true that the female Russian volleyball national team greatly underachieved in 2017. To start off the season, the squad, who had been coached Vladimir Kuzyutkin for only the seven previous months, finished the FIVB Grand Prix in 9th place and the Grand Champions cup in fourth place out of six teams. Coach Kuzyutkin was then fired on the eve of the 2017 CEV Europan Championship, with his assistant, Konstantin Ushakov, being vaulted into head coaching duties. However, a pitiful performance on the tournament all but destroyed his chances of continuing at the national team’s helm.
Due to its historical prowess, head coaching duties in Russia’s female national team is a highly scrutinized position,drawing a lot attention from the media. The pressure and expectations are so great, that many believe that it led to coach Sergei Ovchinnikov’s suicide. Ovchinnikov, who was the team’s coach during the 2012 Olympic Games, committed suicide three weeks after the team lost to Brazil at the tournament’s quarterfinals.
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Zarechye Odintsovo’s head coach Vadim Pankov was appointed as head coach of the Russian women’s volleyball team. Roman # Teryushkov “This is a great responsibility and, of course, a great honor. The Moscow region is very proud that the mentor of the Moscow Region club differs favorably among colleagues with its experience and professionalism.” Roman Teryushkov
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