Athanasios Papageorgiou

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Athanasios Papageorgiou with the German national volleyball team for the disabled at the 2009 World Cup

Athanasios Papageorgiou , called Papa (born April 4, 1943 in Rhodes ), is a Greek volleyball coach . Since 1983 he has coached the German national volleyball team for the disabled, which was particularly successful in Paralympic standing volleyball competitions. Outside of disabled sports, Papageorgiou also served as a coach for TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen . He has published several textbooks on volleyball.

Life

In 1961 Athanasios Papageorgiou came to Germany. He studied sport and English studies in Mainz, Saarbrücken and Kiel until he finally graduated from the German Sport University Cologne (focus on disabled sport and rehabilitation) in 1967 as a certified sport teacher. He passed the first state examination in sports and education. From 1968 he taught himself at the German Sport University, from 1972 to 2008 he taught volleyball at the Institute for Sports Games there. He worked as a trainer for various associations, including the German Volleyball Association (1987 to 2012), the International Volleyball Association (since 1993) and the International Volleyball Association for the Disabled. From 1988 to 2012 he worked as coordinator and main consultant for the sport game volleyball at the Cologne Trainer Academy .

From 1970 to 1974 Papageorgiou coached the men's volleyball team in Leverkusen. He was also the coach of the women's team at the University of Cologne. In 1986 he became Bundesliga coach for TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen , whose men's team won the DVV Cup with him in 1988 and became German champions in 1989. Papageorgiou counts Frank Stutzke among those players whose talent he discovered and who he successfully promoted. From 1989 to 1992 he coached the Bundesliga team Fortuna Bonn .

In 1983 Papageorgiou became the coach of the German national volleyball team for the disabled, at the request of his former lecturer Horst Kosel , who worked as a training supervisor at the German Disabled Sports Association (DBS). In the same year the German standing volleyball team, under the guidance of Papageorgiou, reached second place at the world championships, where they only just lost to Israel. In 1985, 1989 and 1990 the German became world champions. They won gold medals four times at the Summer Paralympic Games: 1988 in Seoul, 1992 in Barcelona, 1996 in Atlanta and 2000 in Sydney. The winning streak ended when, in 2000, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) withdrew standing volleyball from its program despite protests from Papageorgiou and like-minded people. From 2006 onwards, the team and trainer had to finance themselves entirely with their own funds and donations, as the DBS cut the funding. Despite these problems, the German team won the World Championships 2008 in Handlova and the World Cups in Phnom Penh (2007/2009/2011). In 2011, standing volleyball was given up for financial reasons, so that since then Papageorgious has exclusively been the national coach of the German para beach volleyball team . He played a key role in setting the rules for beach volleyball and is committed to ensuring that the sport becomes Paralympic.

Papageorgiou published some volleyball manuals with the Meyer & Meyer publishing house . In his publications, which have been reprinted and translated several times, he addresses issues of didactics , structure, player and game analyzes, among other things .

Since entering professional retirement, Papageorgiou has lived mainly in Rhodes with occasional stays in Cologne . He has two children and his son works as a doctor in Rhodes.

In 2015 Papageorgiou was nominated by the World Para Volleyball Association for the IPC award "Paralympic Order" because of its commitment.

Publications (selection)

Books
  • Volleyball Handbook: Basics. With Willy Spitzley. 10th edition. Meyer & Meyer, Aachen 2015, ISBN 978-3-89899-622-8 .
  • Learn volleyball playfully: from "throwing and catching" to the game "6 against 6". With Volker Czimek. 3. Edition. Meyer & Meyer, Aachen 2012, ISBN 978-3-89899-656-3 .
  • Handbook for competitive volleyball: training to become a specialist. With Willy Spitzley. 4th edition. Meyer & Meyer, Aachen 2006, ISBN 3-89899-127-X .
  • Beach volleyball manual: technique, tactics, training. With Stefan Hömberg. 2nd Edition. Meyer & Meyer, Aachen 1997, ISBN 3-89124-401-0 .
Movies
  • Beach volleyball: step by step. With Stefan Hömberg and Guido Weihermüller. Meyer & Meyer, Aachen 1996, ISBN 3-89124-368-5 .
  • Technique and tactics of the sport game volleyball. With Wulf Götsch, Willi Spitzley, Hans-Joachim Hossfeld. Institute for Sports Games of the DSHS for FWU , Cologne 1987.
    • Part I - Technology.
    • Part II - Basic Tactical Practices.
    • Part III - Special Tactical Procedures.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c He doesn't even want to be a saint. The Greek Papageorgiou made Leverkusen a master. In: German volleyball magazine. Philippka-Sportverlag, Münster May 1989, p. 7
  2. ↑ a b c VolleyballFREAK interview with legendary trainer Athanasios "Papa" Papageorgiou. volleyballfreak.de, March 14, 2019. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  3. ↑ Vita Athanasios Papageorgiou volleyball-team-deutschland.de. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  4. ↑ National team for the disabled: Athanasios "Papa" Papageorgiou - successful coach for 25 years. Volleyball-verband.de. Accessed on November 27, 2019.
  5. ↑ Athanasios Papageorgiou - national coach dbs-volleyball.de. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  6. ↑ a b c World Federation nominated Athanasios Papageorgiou. dbs-npc.de, August 6, 2015. Accessed November 27, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Papageorgiou, Athanasios
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Papa (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek volleyball coach and author
DATE OF BIRTH April 4, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Rhodes