Prime Volleyball League a learning curve for Guru Prasanth

Hyderabad Black Hawks' Guru Prasanth has made giant strides in volleyball. One of the players to watch out for in the ongoing Prime Volleyball League, Guru Prasanth has made heads turn in a short time with his scintillating gameplay.

Guru Prasanth started his volleyball career as a blocker but soon changed positions as a universal at the behest of one of India's best volleyball coaches, S Dakshinamoorthy.

Transitioning to the big leagues from the U-21 arena has been a huge learning curve for the youngster. Speaking to Sportskeeda about his volleyball career, Guru Prasanth said the Prime Volleyball League has made him a better player.

"In the U-21 stage, players are a little less mature, I mean, they are rookies. However, in professional leagues, they are already mature enough to play volleyball at a very high level. We have to be more conscious about how we play our games. It is not as easy as it looks to be. Every team will have pro and foreign players. So, leagues like these are quite tough," Guru Prasanth said.

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Guru Prasanth: The mentality of approaching a game has changed

The 21-year-old universal said the biggest learning and change was in the mentality of players like him.

Hyderabad Black Hawks are the only team in the ongoing Prime Volleyball League to have a foreign coach, Ruben Wolochin, and Guru hopes to make every minute count under expert leadership.

"The mentality of approaching the game under coach Ruben Wolochin is very different. For example, during service, many of us tried to be on the safer side, like just trying to put the service in. However, we are now trying to score during service. The quality of attacks have improved," he explained.

The advent of private leagues has changed the sport's landscape. With a lot of support staff like video analysts, players get to up their skills and game style in a very short time.

“We have video analysis, we are approaching the game more statistically. We have video sessions every day so we can rectify our mistakes, as well as analyze opponents and plan accordingly," he said.

The Prime Volleyball League offers players like Guru Prasanth a chance to rub shoulders with the best in the business and being a part of such a league in formitive years does a world of good for young players.

Guru Prasanth plays alongside Venezuela's Luis Antonio Arias and Cuba's Henry Bell. Luis' experience of playing at the Tokyo Olympics has gone a long way in helping the youngsters at Hyderabad Black Hawks and Guru hopes to take a leaf out of the foreign players' books.

"I am grateful that I am playing with top foreign players such as Luis and Henry. Luis is my opposite number and I can get a lot of tactical information from him. He is guiding me as a senior. He played in the Olympics and has a lot of experience. Even though Henry is injured, he is constantly guiding us and giving inputs which are very valuable," he said.

When and where to watch PVL?

The Prime Volleyball League will be shown live on the Sony Sports network. SONY TEN 1 (English), SONY TEN 3 (Hindi), SONY TEN 4 (Tamil & Telugu) and SONY TEN 2 (Malayalam) channels will have a live telecast of all the matches.

The Prime Volleyball League runs from February 5 to February 27.