Philippe Georges Antoine Blain (born 20 May 1960) is a French professional

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

coach and former player. He was a member of the

France national team France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

from 1984 to 1987 and a participant in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

Seoul 1988. Blain serves as head coach for

Cheonan Hyundai Capital Skywalkers Cheonan Hyundai Capital Skywalkers is a South Korean professional volleyball team. The team was founded in 1983 and became fully professional in 2005. They are based in Cheonan and are members of the Korea Volleyball Federation (KOVO). Their ho ...

. He also acted as Secretary of FIVB Technical & Coaching commission.

Career as coach

Since 1998 he has coached in France, first at

AS Cannes Association Sportive de Cannes Football (; commonly referred to as AS Cannes or simply Cannes) is a French association football club based in Cannes. The club was formed in 1902 as a sports club and currently plays in the Championnat National 2 ...

, then, since 2000, at

Arago de Sète Arago de Séte is a French professional volleyball club based in Sete, France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Gui ...

. Starting from 2001 he was a head coach of the

France men's national volleyball team The France national men's volleyball team represents the country in international competitions and friendly matches. It was the reigning European Champion in 2015 and is ranked 3rd (as of 1 January 2023) in the FIVB World Rankings, FIVB world ran ...

. In 2013 he was announced as new assistant coach to new coach

Stephane Antiga Stephane may refer to: * Stéphane, a French given name * Stephane (headdress) A stephane (''ancient Greek'' στέφανος, from ''στέφω'' (stéphō, “I encircle”), '' Lat.'' Stephanus = wreath, decorative wreath worn on the head; cro ...

. They have been working with

Poland men's national volleyball team The Poland men's national volleyball team (Polish language, Polish: ''Reprezentacja Polski w piłce siatkowej mężczyzn'') represents Poland in international volleyball competition. The team is directed by the Polish Volleyball Federation (''Pol ...

. On September 21, 2014 Poland won a title of World Champion 2014. On October 27, 2014 he received a state award granted by the Polish President

Bronisław Komorowski Bronisław Maria Komorowski (; born 4 June 1952) is a Polish politician and historian who was the fifth president of Poland from 2010 to 2015. Komorowski previously served as Ministry of National Defence (Poland), Minister of National Defence ...

– Gold Cross of Merit for outstanding contribution to the development of Polish sport. On 29 March 2016, he signed a contract with

PGE Skra Bełchatów PGE may refer to: * Pacific Gas and Electric Company, commonly abbreviated PG&E * Pacific Gas & Electric (band), an American blues rock band * Pacific Great Eastern Railway, the original name of BC Rail * Parser Grammar Engine, Perl 6 rule compil ...

and replaced the previous head coach, Miguel Angel Falasca. Blain coached the Japanese men's national volleyball team since 2017, first as an assistant coach and then as head coach from 2022 onwards. Under his guidance, Japan would qualify for two Olympics: the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

as the host nation and the

2024 Paris Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

through the qualifying matches of 2023. Following the 2024 Olympics, Blain announced his departure from the team.

Honours

As a coach

CEV Cup The CEV Cup is the second tier official competition for men's Volleyball clubs of Europe. The competition takes place every year. Until 2000, it was the CEV Cup Winners' Cup. In 2000 it was renamed to CEV Top Teams Cup and in 2007 to CEV Cup. T ...

1998–99 – with

* Domestic ** 1994–95 Simple gold cup

French Cup, with AS Cannes ** 1994–95 Gold medal with cup

French Championship, with AS Cannes ** 1997–98 Simple gold cup

French Cup, with AS Cannes ** 2016–17 Silver medal with cup

Polish Championship, with

Individual awards

* 1986: FIVB World Championship – Most valuable player * 1987: CEV European Championship – Most valuable player

State awards

* 2014: Gold Cross of Merit''Postanowienie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 23 października 2014 r. o nadaniu orderów i odznaczeń''
– isap.sejm.gov.pl – 23-10-2014 * 2014:

Medaille de la Jeunesse et des Sports

References

External links

*
Player profile
at ''LegaVolley.it''
Coach/Player profile
at ''Volleybox.net'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Blain, Philippe 1960 births Living people Sportspeople from Montpellier French men's volleyball players Olympic volleyball players for France Volleyball players at the 1988 Summer Olympics French volleyball coaches Olympic coaches for France Recipients of the Gold Cross of Merit (Poland) Volleyball coaches of international teams French expatriate volleyball players in Italy French expatriate sportspeople in Poland French expatriate sportspeople in Japan French expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Skra Bełchatów coaches Coaches at the 2024 Summer Olympics Occitan sportspeople 20th-century French sportsmen Olympic volleyball coaches