Julio Velasco: The Coach Behind Italian Volleyball's Golden Years

Julio Velasco is the Argentine coach who built the "generation of phenomena" in Italian men's volleyball between 1989 and 1996, and who has been in charge of the women's national team since 2024: with them he has won Olympic gold at Paris 2024, the 2025 Volleyball Nations League and the 2025 World Championship. His work was never only about technique: it is about organising talent and managing the head.

Who Julio Velasco is: the essentials

• Name: Julio Velasco
• Born: 9 February 1952 in La Plata, Argentina
• Role: volleyball coach
• Italy men's national team: head coach from 1989 to 1996
• Italy women's national team: head coach since 2024

Velasco came to volleyball as a player who never made it and as a philosophy student. It is a detail that explains a lot about the way he coaches: he talks about the team, about responsibility and about mistakes in language that is not the usual gym language.

The generation of phenomena: Italy's men 1989-1996

In 1989 Velasco takes over a men's national team that had not yet won anything big. Within a few years it becomes the team to beat in the world.

The honours from that cycle, in short:

• 2 World Championships: 1990 and 1994
• 3 European Championships: 1989, 1993 and 1995
• 5 World Leagues: 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994 and 1995
• 1 World Cup: 1995
• Olympic silver: Atlanta 1996

That team also changed the way volleyball was seen in Italy: from a niche sport to a prime-time one. After the men's cycle, Velasco also coached the women's national team for a short spell, before a long phase with clubs and national teams abroad - Spain, Argentina, Iran - and management roles.

Back with Italy: the women's national team since 2024

In 2024 Velasco was appointed head coach of the Italian women's national team. The biggest result came straight away: Olympic gold at Paris 2024, the first for Italian women's volleyball at the Games.

The cycle did not stop there. In 2025 the Italian women won the Volleyball Nations League and the World Championship, beating Turkey in a tie-break final. Velasco then said he wants to stay on the bench until Los Angeles 2028.

The Velasco method: what you can actually steal from him

What mostly circulates from his ideas are the quotes. But underneath the quotes there are principles that work even if you play in a lower division or on a high school team.

1. Excuses do not train you

Velasco's most quoted idea is the one about "hitters who do not talk about the reception". Translated for you: stop blaming your performance on things you do not control. The slippery floor, the bad set, the cold gym. They are all real, and none of them improves your jump.

2. Training is for making mistakes, the match is for not making them

Velasco always pushed for sessions where the athlete is put under pressure on purpose. If in the gym you only do what already works for you, in a match you do not have a repertoire: you have a habit. The same goes for strength: if you always load the same weight and always do the same number of jumps, your body stops having reasons to change.

3. Talent has to be organised, not waited for

A team of talents with no structure loses to an ordinary team that is organised. In your individual training it is exactly the same: doing nice exercises taken off Instagram is not a programme. A programme has an order, a progression and an end.

4. The head trains like the muscles

For Velasco, the mental side is not poster motivation. It is getting used to being in uncomfortable situations. You build it by repeating, not with a speech before the match.

From mindset to numbers: measure first, then train, then measure again

There is a point where the philosophy has to meet the data, otherwise it stays a conversation. If you want to know whether you are really improving, you need a starting number.

For the vertical jump that number is easy to get: record a 2-second jump with your phone, upload it to the vertical jump test and you get your height in centimetres, calculated from flight time. It is free and the video never leaves your device.

That number is your "before". Then you follow a programme for the number of weeks it sets out. Then you repeat the same measurement, in the same conditions. Only then do you know whether it worked or whether you are just sweating.

JHP programmes if you want to work on your jump

JHP makes digital training programmes to increase your vertical jump. None of them turns you into Velasco, but they all have a structure and a set length:

• Jump Higher Program - 10 weeks of jump work with bodyweight only, no equipment. €60.
• JHP Gym Edition - 16 weeks in the weight room, maximal strength and power. €60.
• JHP Team Performance - 4 weeks designed for teams and coaches, to slot into group preparation. €50.
• JHP membership - 13 programmes, WhatsApp support, cancel whenever you want. €99/year.

You can find the whole catalogue in the JHP courses collection.

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