M. Roma Volley: ROMA – Paolo Tofoli is about to turn 40 and we asked him to remember with us the last 20 years of volleyball carreer. There is no need to hide that Tofoli is a volleyball legend and a great man in love with his family. We interviewed him on the beach and he doesn’t look 40 at all…
“I will bring the title back in Rome then I will give volleyball up!”
That is the promise he made. It is a big promise especially in Rome… a city where people talks only about soccer.
So Tofoli opened up his memories box and talked freely about his successes, his victories, his stories and even his delusions. He said: “There are no secrets in my long carreer. For sure it is hard to keep up the focus and the enthusiasm for so many years. You always have to find the resources, the spirit and the will without losing the winning touch and the ambition. The historical national team where I played, has been able to achieve so many victories and successes also thanks to the natural attitude we had when we faced big matches; thanks to the serenity and the union of our group; we knew that once on the court, we would have helped each other and sacrified ourselves for the good of the team. Personally I still have a big will of trainning of playing and of course of winning. Without this goals, I think, I will not be playing at age of 40. I didn’t even want to listen about wrong choices: I always thought a lot about every decision I had to take in my life. I will do again everything I did since 1983, year I started to play volleball. About coaches I have to say that I had three great coaches. Different strategies and different attitude but three great masters: Velasco, Montali and Prandi. I am very grateful to Velasco because he brought me in the national team when I was just 20 years old. He trusted me and he gave me a lot of responsabilities. If we had not won what we did it would have been very hard to face his choice to use me as setter if we had lost instead of winning. Montali is just a great coach. I am still in touch with him and he always tells me jokes about the national team. I am sure that if it was for him he will call me back in the national team. Then Prandi: he has been so crucial for rising up my level. His suggestions, his advices have been amazing. That’s why they call him the “teacher”. He has been my first great coach. For the future I made a promise: I want to take the title back to Rome. I know it will not be easy but I am sure that in 3-4 years Rome will back at the top. The project is good. We need to begin from scratch without too much pressure and without thinking that some players will not be at disposal for awhile because busy with their national teams.”
“If I wasn’t a volleyball player I would probably have gone to the University and found a normal job and had a normal life. But I am a volleyball player and I want to keep playing for now. I will give up when I will phisically feel that it is too hard to keep going. I didn’t think about what I will do after I will stop playing. Maybe I can be a manager in a volleyball team… I would like to stay in the volleyball world.
