LIFE STORY.
LIFE STORY.
It all started when a young Italian athlete went to sunny California…
In his early career, Marco was 3 times Italian champion (1985, 1987, 1988), and 3rd in the FIVB World Ranking in 1990.
Left and centre: Marco with Gianni Mascagna, who went on to found Beach Volley Academy in Rome.
Right: Marco on the O’Neill podium in 1991 holding his daughter.
Marco made many friends who went on to play important roles in volleyball and beach volleyball.
Top Right: Marco with Angelo Squeo who became head of the Beach Volleyball FIVB.
Top Left: With Greg Giovanazzi, who played with Marco in his early career and went on to be a great friend. RIP Greg.
Marco was the first to open an indoor beach volleyball school in 1996: Eschilo 1.
The school would go on to be a model for many others to come, and the training ground for some of the first professional players in the country.
1995 - 2000: Marco was head coach of the Italian National Teams, focusing his energy on female teams Solazzi-Bruschini and Perrotta-Gattelli.
Under his stewardship they achieved:
Gold medal European Championships 1997, 1999 and 2000, Bronze in 1998
4th place Goodwilll Games I998
Three times final-4 in the FIVB tour
5th and 9th place at the Sydney Olympic Games
1996: Marco attended the first ever Beach Volleyball event at the Olympic Games with the Italian team.
2002 - 2011: Marco was Head Coach of the men’s Austrian teams, with the majority of his time spent with Berger-Doppler and Mellitzer.
With them he achieved:
11th in the FIVB World Ranking 2002
Gold medal European Championships 2003, 2007 and silver in 2010
Three times final-4 in the FIVB World Tour
9th place Beijing Olympic Games
Marco with Clemens Doppler, who came under Marco’s stewardship as a teenager.
2004: Head Coach of Germany Women
2004-2006: Marco became the representative for the FIVB Beach Volleyball Coach Commission, a role he cared about passionately.
2007 - 2008: Head Coach of Russia men’s team Barsouk- Kolodinsky, with whom he achieved:
Silver Medal World Championships 2007
2008 opened at first place in the FIVB World Ranking
Gold Medal Grand slam Klagenfurt 2008
9th place Beijing Olympic Games
2012 - 2015: Head Coach of Russia women’s team
9th place London Olympic Games
Gold Medal Grand slam Klagenfurt 2012
Ten times final-4 in the FIVB World tour
Gold Medal Universiadi 2013
Silver Medal European Championships 2015
2017 - 2018: Marco coached the Japanese women’s team Hasegawa-Futami.
Marco with Aki, Azu and Fabrizio aka Faggio, his longtime business partner and good friend.
2019 - 2020: Marco trained Italian team Rossi-Carambula, who broke off from the Italian Federation to set their own path. With them he achieved:
2nd place Sydney World Tour 2019
5th place Hamburg World Championship 2019
2020: Marco became Technical Director of Mutina Beach, a Beach Volleyball School in Modena, Italy.
2020-2021: Marco trained Latvian Team Samoilov-Smedins.
2022: Marco received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the IBVCA - the International Beach Volleyball Coach Association.
