Vietnamese Volleyball: From the 'Fever' to a Sustainability Challenge After the Golden Cycle

There is a moment I will never forget in my career covering volleyball. It wasn't a beautiful play, but the unusual silence that stretched across the stands of the Quan Khu 5 Gymnasium, when the Vietnamese women's team lost to Thailand in the SEA Games 31 final. The lights were still on, but the entire stadium seemed to hold its breath. I saw the Vietnamese players standing frozen on the court, not saying a word to each other. At that moment, I realized that Vietnamese volleyball was no longer a sport of luck or fleeting inspiration. It had become an industry of expectations, and expectations are the most fragile thing in the world. The context I'm referring to is the Olympic cycle and major regional tournaments. Over the past decade, Vietnamese volleyball has experienced phenomenal growth. From being a sport known only domestically, the women's team has risen to 3rd place in Asia, qualified for the FIVB Challenger Cup, and become a force at the SEA Games. But this rapid ascent raises a big question: are we building a sustainable volleyball foundation, or are we burning a golden generation to exchange for medals? My tactical analysis of the Vietnamese women's team in recent years shows an over-reliance on a core group of players. This is most evident in the setter and opposite positions. When key spikers like Tran Thi Thanh Thuy or Nguyen Thi Bich Tuyen are in top form, the team plays like a perfect machine. But when they are figured out by opponents, or when their stamina declines, the whole system seems to stop. I vividly remember the match against Thailand at SEA Games 31, when Thanh Thuy was constantly double-blocked, and the team had almost no other attacking options. The plays became monotonous and predictable, and the opponent just had to wait to counter-attack. Statistical data reinforces this assessment. In recent international matches, the success rate of Vietnam's attacks from position 4 accounts for up to 60% of total attacking points. This number is unusually high compared to the Asian average, where top teams usually distribute points more evenly across positions. What does that mean? It means our tactical system is too dependent on one spearhead. If that spearhead is neutralized, we have almost nothing left to defend with. This is the counter-intuitive angle I want to emphasize. We often praise the stars, but forget that a team's sustainability does not lie in how many stars it has, but in whether the system can operate without them. Looking at Japan or Thailand, they don't have spikers with superior height, but they have a highly flexible setting and defense system. They can change the tempo of the match, change their attacking tactics within a single set. As for Vietnam, we seem to be betting everything on a few individuals. This leads me to a bigger issue: the transfer market and youth development. The transfer market doesn't sell players; it sells dreams with an expiration date. When a Vietnamese women's volleyball star goes abroad, we consider it a success. But I see a hidden problem: the development trajectory of young domestic players is being neglected. Youth tournaments lack investment, the training system lacks connectivity, and when the current golden generation passes the age of 30, we will face a large void. I recall a conversation with a young coach in Hanoi last year. He told me that in youth tournaments, they still teach players how to hit the ball as hard as possible, not how to read the game. This sounds normal, but it is an alarming sign. In modern volleyball, reading the game and making quick decisions are more important than raw power. A player can hit very hard, but if they don't know how to choose positions, how to move to create space, that power becomes meaningless against a well-organized block. This is why I believe Vietnamese volleyball needs a revolution in mindset, not just in infrastructure. We need to invest in data analysis systems, in training coaches who can read the game, and in building a volleyball culture where tactical intelligence is valued more than physical strength. I'm not saying we should stop looking for talents with exceptional physical attributes. That is necessary. But we need to change how we view player development. Instead of chasing individual stars, we need to build systems that can create many stars. Instead of focusing only on immediate results, we need to invest in long-term development processes. Looking back at that silent moment in the Quan Khu 5 Gymnasium, I realize that the silence was not disappointment, but awakening. Vietnamese volleyball has moved past the phase of fleeting fads. Now is the time to face a much harder problem: how to build a sustainable volleyball foundation, not just relying on one golden generation? The answer lies in whether we have the courage to change the system. And I believe, with what has been achieved, Vietnamese volleyball can absolutely do it.