2016-01-19 18:04:00 CET
The CEV works on further growth of beach volleyball in Europe
A few busy weeks for Europe’s volleyball family started with the annual meeting of the European Beach Volleyball Commission (EBVC), which took place at the 15th and 16th of January at the CEV headquarters in Luxembourg City. It was the first meeting chaired by EBVC President Michel Everaert, who has headed the Commission since October, following the XXXVI CEV General Assembly and elections held in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The meeting provided an opportunity to introduce the new EBVC members and to share the strategic vision that the CEV leadership around President Aleksandar Boričić has been designing and pursuing for the last few months.
The annual EBVC meeting included a review of a very successful and busy 2015 season, which broke all-time records in terms of the number of CEV sanctioned events and featured two major highlights: the first ever European Games in Baku and the 2015 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship Final held in Klagenfurt, Austria.
The EBVC members also evaluated the progress achieved in a couple of development projects which are seen as instrumental to a further growth of the sport across Europe. The 2013-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Youth Development Project will be reaching its climax later this year with the final stage of the inaugural CEV U17 Continental Cup, which will serve as a qualifying event for this year’s U17 World Championships in Brazil.
Next to this, a development project has been designed and is now in its early implementation stage focusing on national federations from categories 1 and 2, i.e. on those countries where beach volleyball is not yet in the spotlight and assistance is needed in order to make sure as many youngsters as possible are inspired to take up and possibly pursue a career in the sport.
Plans for the 2016 season were reviewed too, with the European calendar featuring three major highlights, starting with the CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship Final in Biel/Bienne (Switzerland) from June 1-5, to be followed by the final stage of the 2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup in Stavanger (Norway). The eventual winners of the competition which is due to take place from June 22-26 will secure a spot for their country to compete at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.