OK Financial Group’s Leiva Martinez (32, registered name Leo), who achieved a triple crown (successful at least 3 each of blocking, serve, and back attack) in 4 consecutive games for the first time in the professional volleyball V-League, said, “ Thanks to the effect of weight training,” he said.
Leo made a mark in the history of the V-League by achieving 3 sub-aces, 3 blockings, and 8 rear-guard attacks in the professional volleyball Dodram 2022-2023 V-League Men’s KB Insurance visiting match held at the Uijeongbu Gymnasium in Gyeonggi-do on the 16th.
Leo, whom I met after the match, said, 메이저놀이터 “I couldn’t maintain my energy like before, so I focused on weight training. I was able to improve my blocking ability by maintaining good physical condition.”
Until last season, Leo had three or more sub-aces and rear-attacks in most games, but he often missed the triple crown due to lack of blocking.
It was because he focused on attacks to arrange his stamina.
Leo paid attention to weight training ahead of this season. It was to increase his stamina.
Seok Jin-wook, director of OK Financial Group, explained, “Leo struggled to maintain the weight of the barbell during weight training despite his age.”
Leo, who has improved his stamina, maintains his characteristic momentum in the second half of the game and actively participates in blocking defense.
Leo did not neglect his technical training either.
He had a lot of small movements when blocking until last season, but this season he jumps with simple movements focused on straight lines.
Leo said, “Before, when I stepped diagonally, the shape of my hands tended to collapse and the ball would fall out.
A series of processes made Leo the ‘Emperor of the Triple Crown’.
Leo achieved the first record in the V-League by creating a triple crown from Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance on the 2nd, Woori Card on the 6th, Korea Electric Power on the 11th, and KB Insurance on the 16th.
4 consecutive triple crowns is a record that even the most highly regarded players such as Robert Randy Simon, Christian Padar, and Keita Noumori could not achieve.
His 3rd streak also came only 3 times excluding Leo.
In the 2010-2011 season, Milos Kulapich wrote a triple crown for three consecutive games as a member of KEPCO, and Padar wrote the record once in the 2017-2018 season and 2018-2019 season.
Leo, who joined Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance in the 2012-2013 season and established a relationship with the V-League, conquered the Korean stage and played in foreign leagues such as Turkey, China, and the United Arab Emirates from the 2015-2016 season.
Leo, who returned to the Korean stage last year through OK Financial Group, is writing a new history as if ridiculing the evaluation of those around him that ‘the heyday has passed’.