Volleyball - TILLIE Laurent

General
STEPPING DOWN
He plans to step down as head coach of the French men's national team after the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (insidethegames.biz, 17 Apr 2021)

JAPANESE MOVE
In 2020 he took up the head coach position at Japanese club the Panasonic Panthers. He says he enjoys the culture in Japan, but that he has experienced problems with the language. "It's a really fascinating culture [in Japan]. The way of writing, eating, talking, behaving. It's really another life and it seemed interesting to me to live. Sometimes I need several timeouts to get an instruction through, it's frustrating. It is difficult to be very precise with the language barrier, especially when the timeouts arrive. But I am delighted with this experience." (lequipe.fr, 17 Nov 2020; tellerreport.com, 20 May 2020)

SPORTING FAMILY
His father Guy played volleyball for France, while his wife Caroline Keulen-Tillie played volleyball at national level in the Netherlands. His son Killian has played volleyball and basketball at national level in France, and in 2020 he signed a two-way contract with US basketball team the Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA. His sons Kim and Kevin both represented France at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, with Kim competing in basketball and Kevin competing in volleyball. His brother Patrice Tillie played water polo for France at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. (SportsDeskOnline, 30 Mar 2021; sport.fr, 21 May 2012; lejdd.fr, 29 May 2016; bvbinfo.com, 12 Jul 2016; nba.com, 24 Nov 2020)