Apparently, there's no boredom in Perugia. A coach's board, a photo of Alex Nikolov, and a few minutes on the internet were enough to spark the latest volleyball mini-saga, which – of course – did not escape the keen eye of colleagues from the respected volleyball websiteVolleyball.it.
It all starts with a photo…
We're talking about that iconic photograph from Game 4 of the 2024/25 semi-final, when Lube's outside hitter and world championship runner-up with Bulgaria, Aleksandar Nikolov, 'invited' the Perugia crowd to a little silence with the well-known gesture – a finger in front of his lips.
The photo was affixed to the corner of Angelo Lorenzetti's coach's board, and beneath it stood a short, direct, and slightly 'sour' motto:
'He who forgets is an accomplice.'
An internal message, supposedly just for the team. Nothing new under the sun – coaches have long used criticism, photos, headlines, and whatever else they can get their hands on to prick the athletic ego of players.
Except that… the internet rarely respects the 'locker room only' concept.
It's unclear how – apparently, a phone snapped at the right moment – but the image left the hall and immediately found its way onto social media channels. From there, fans' imaginations exploded like Leon's serves on a good day:
Western-style 'Wanted: alive or dead' posters appeared, with Nikolov as the Bulgarian version of Jesse James;
others preferred a 'mugshot' version, with a police height chart, as if Alex had just been 'arrested' forexcessive talent.
And while Perugia probably sighed heavily ('Oh, this should have stayed internal…'), the internet collective had already placed the incident in the 'volleyball fun 2025' gallery.
The colleagues from volleyball.it? Of course, they noticed!
As expected, the respected Italian volleyball websiteVolleyball.itdid not fail to cover the story.
And whenVolleyball.itgets hold of something - it means it has officially passed into the category of "volleyball folklore".
Ultimately...
From a coaching trick, through photo montages, to a full-fledged internet comedy - all this just because of one photo of Nikolov and one marker sentence on a board.
But one thing is clear:
This time, it wasn't Lorenzetti looking for motivation on social media...
But social media found its motivation on his board.
photos: volleyball.it
