Francisco Ruiz is a pro volleyball player standing just at 178 cm tall and no he's not playing as a libero but as a Wings Spiker it would be totally epic if Fran played as a middle blocker but that's more like a fantasy for a long time this Spaniard was a major motivator for shorter volleyball players until the globalization of highq anime and the emergence of Yuji Nishida although compared to Francisco Yuji is quite tall now we're talking about how a player under 180 cm can play at a professional level and even represent the national team
so as you've gathered today we're talking about the inspiration for many bding volleyball players the wings Spiker for the Spanish national team Francisco Ruiz let's dive in Ruiz was born on June 7th 1991 in Cordoba Spain France spent most of his career in the Spanish league as an outside hitter he has played for clubs like Sevilla Teruel and Ventura Palma clinching the kings cup three times in 2015 17 and 19 in 2016 with Teruel he won the Spanish super cup then in 2017 with Ventura Palma he conquered the Spanish super Lia in the 2017 to
2018 season Ruiz decided to test his skills in Italy but it was just a sera A2 team tovana then in 2019 he moved to Cypress to play for anorthosis where he won the Cypress super cup after that a cruise through Italian teams from Seri A3 and now the outside has returned to Spain playing for unuka typically volleyball players either stick to a certain League playing for a comfortable team or they travel around with big contracts to Exotic countries but judging by Ruiz he doesn't seem to fit into one of these typical volleyball player categories with
the adult national team Ruiz didn't achieve significant success and in recent years he struggled to make the squad but he still managed to play 71 matches for the Spanish national team which is quite an accomplishment for a player with his physical attributes let's talk about that now as I mentioned earlier the outside hitter's height is 178 cm which by volleyball standards are laughable numbers even at an amateur level I find this height insufficient at the same 178 cm let alone at a professional level his weight understandably fluctuates and depends on various factors but He's listed
at 70 kg his Spike reach is 334 cm and his block reach is 310 cm meaning he has more than enough reach over the net to play successfully even at an international level for taller players these numbers might be lower but for shorter ones it's a given you might wonder how did he achieve such an impressive jump is it genetics or the result of rigorous training while I can't speak for genetics I can confidently say that his gym work pays off there aren't many videos of his gym sessions but considering the training regimen of the
Spanish national team their heavy strength training is based on a low number of repetitions with maximum intensity this is evidenced by a video of him squatting twice at 180 kg remember at a body weight of 70 kg those are serious numbers especially for a volleyball player mostly friend post his jumps and especially his attacking hits on Instagram to play at a professional level with such height one probably needs to have perfect technique and in this case it seems true perfect technique is a must timely positioning a quick approach and incredible L powerful penultimate step and
lightning fast speed in the last two steps excellent arm work throughout from a powerful and wide back swing to the follow through everything in between is executed superbly as well and quick arm extension through the biceps and maximizing arm workor at the point of attack then retracting the hitting arm along the shortest path while keeping the non- hitting arm straight until the heating motion begins at the top there's no unnecessary elbow movement everything is precise as during the elbow lift for the hit the speed is great and the Spanish player also remembers to engage his
core muscles maybe a bit more amplitude could be added in the hitting arms back swing but these are Minor Details it's worth noting that the outside hitter uses small jumps instead of steps for positioning which might add a bit of speed to the approach something I get knacked for too since I once changed my pivot foot and was scared of mixing them up leading to these horike jumps so to speak but I see nothing nothing wrong with that since three four steps are enough for me to reach maximum speed as I believe it is for
Ruiz overall I don't see the need to obsess over technique he's an excellent role model in my opinion highlights with FR typically look the same across all channels featuring a few training clips and some national team games though as I mentioned before he hasn't played for Spain since 2018 but why bother posting his recent highlights when you can repost an old video would you be interested in watching a fresh compilation of of Ruiz on my channel if so hit like and drop a relevant comment below so what's my point over the years the spaniard's game
has evolved slightly it's clear that Francisco faces certain challenges with Frontline attacks if he played in the Russian Super League which isn't too fond of shorter players he'd struggle to score but he doesn't play in Russia so he remains a productive star player for his team in Tonia he was even one of the two key attackers receiving no less than 30 sets per game on Fast and comfortable sets the player looks confident able to outplay or work off the block even using short tips but against a solid static group block and tight sets it's much
harder to improvise thus Francisco often plays back row attacks where the angle of attack is much broader and serious blocks at this level are rare hence a ruiz's attacking efficiency often exceeds 50% from the front row the Spaniard prefers to hit sharp angles typically aiming for four to four against a group block he targets the far corner of zone five line shots usually go to 5 6 M and he likes tipping just over the block rarely opting for a dump into the six Zone he doesn't have a favorite serve the ball goes where it goes
however his serving ritual is quite lengthy starting by bouncing the ball near the back line facing away from the net then tapping it just before the serve on the Block the Spaniard always approaches from the center not the sideline allowing him to assist the middle and gain a run up for a higher jump he also avoids maximum arm extension to maintain block height often straightening his wrist for the same reason in summary if you're under 180 cm tall and dream of being an attacking player at the professional level inspired by Francisco ruiz's gameplay I must
say unfortunately it might be quite challenging especially in Russia where selections heavily rely on anthropometry yes perhaps some of you could defy my expectations and become the first shorter attacker to excel at the highest level which of course I'd be thrilled about but it would likely be more of an anomaly than a common occurrence however even if you don't become a world-renowned star you can still engage in and earn from your passion as a model of volleyball technique Ruiz is an excellent example remember he achieves a jump of over 1 M he works hard in
the gym and aspect many Overlook if you enjoyed this video please like it and remember to subscribe to the channel it's fundamentally important I'm disheartened that over 80% of viewers watch my videos without subscribing as always this is Nick love what you do and you'll surely succeed see you soon goodbye
