Andrei Iosep announced as new GB mens coach
May 23, 2013> Taken from GBWaterpoloblog.wordpress.com
It was confirmed this week that Romanian Left Hander Iosep Andrei will be head coach this summer for the men’s senior team. GBWaterpoloblog caught up with Andrei to find out a little bit more about him and his role with the team.
1. Tell us about your playing career so far
From the beginning of my career I played in Dinamo Bucharest , where I won 5 Romanian Championships and 5 Romanian Cups.
My first experience abroad was in Italy, at Roma Pallanuoto, where I had the oportunity to work with Pierluigi Fourmiconi, one of the most famous coaches in Italy, there I realized how much I had to learn about water polo! After that I chose to play in Spain and I went to Mataro. My coach there, Dorin Costras, gave me a lot of confidence and that transformed me in one of the top scorers of the Spanish league five years in a row .
During this period I was given the opportunity to play for one of the most famous clubs in the world, Mladost Zagreb. There I achieved the best result of my career; the Croatian title and participation in the champions league Final Four in Barcelona. At the club I had the opportunity to play with great players like Zdeslasv Vrdoljak, Josip Pavic, Damir Buric and was coached by one of the legends of water polo, Ozren Bonacic.
Next I played in Hungary for another historic team, Honved Budapest, and finished in third place in the league. While in Budapest I had the pleasure to be in the same team with Olympic champions like Tamas Molnar, Istvan Gergely, Atilla Vari and Marton Szivos. Latina Pallanuoto in Italy was the next stop in my career, a small club but with very enthusiastic people. The last club till now was C.D.Waterpolo Navarra, they treated me like I was player of them from my whole life. A really big family, I enjoyed so much staying in Pamplona. There I had the pleasure to meet Manel Silvestre “El Cuervo” who deserves respect and high praise for what he’s done and continues to do to promote our sport better than anyone.
(visit Manel’s website here http://elcuervowaterpolo.blogspot.fr/)
2. How did you get offered the GB coach role?
I was contacted by Craig Figes who offered me the job and I didn’t think twice about accepting!
3.What will your role as GB coach involve?
I was hired to prepare for two tournaments, one in Romania from 5 to 7 of july where we will play against Romania, Slovakia and Hungary ( under 20 team) and the Qualification Tournament for European Championship .
4. What are your plans and ambitions with the GB team this summer?
I don’t have enough time to do everything that I would like to do but with the collaboration of the players I hope we will be able to improve the tactical skills of the team. I hope these trainings will help the team to arrive at the november tournament, which is decisive, with a better base.
Best player played with?- Marton Szivos
Against?- Alexander Sapic
Best coach played for?- Ozren Bonacic
Favourite pool played at? Eger in Hungary the pool in Eger!
Favourite goal scored?- It was in a game against Mataro this last season. A spin lob from 10 meters ( post-goal). But remains also in my memory one goal that I scored at the Olympic Games against USA.
Click on this link to see that spin lob goal (Something Andrei was well known at doing well!)https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151606580342422
