BBC Launches Volleyball Page 10th January 2008 BBC has launched a Volleyball page on their sports site. With links to the latest stories, results and videos, the pages offer an array of information for the Volleyball enthusiast. Interviews, blogs, photos and updates from in and around the world of Volleyball will be available through the new page and helps put Volleyball on the map for British sports enthusiasts. Picture: Zara Dampney, UK Beach Volleyball, Attacks Ball BBC Volleyball Page

Olympic Volleyball and Beach Volleyball tickets sell out months ahead of Beijing 2008

May 7, 2008 Further underlining the continued success of Volleyball and Beach Volleyball as Olympic disciplines is the news that tickets for the tournaments at the Beijing Games have already been sold out. The Beijing Organizing Committee (BOCOG) has confirmed that internet sales for tickets have closed more than three months ahead of the August 8-24 Summer Games. BOCOG is keeping back a small percentage of tickets to sell on a daily basis at the Volleyball and Beach Volleyball venues during the Men’s and Women’s tournaments. The Olympic Volleyball Tournament will be played in two venues, the 18,000-seater Capital Indoor Stadium, which will be the main venue, and the 5,000-seater Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium. The 12,000-seater Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Ground will host the Olympic Beach Volleyball Tournament. The popularity of Volleyball has gone from strength to strength since it was first introduced as an Olympic sport at the Tokyo Games in 1964, while Beach Volleyball made its bow at the Atlanta Games in 1996 and has seen fans packing out tournaments ever since. The rush for tickets mirrors the television success enjoyed by Volleyball during the Olympic Games. The sport was recognised after Athens 2004 as one of the most popular Olympic sports on television, with 3.5 billion viewer hours according to official figures reported by the International Olympic Committee. There will be 12 Men’s and 12 Women’s National Teams taking part in the Olympic Volleyball Tournaments and 24 Men’s and 24 Women’s pairs competing in the Olympic Beach Volleyball Tournaments.

Stavanger to host 2009 SWATCH FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships Lausanne, February 29, 2008 – FIVB President Rubén Acosta announced on Friday that the 2009 SWATCH FIVB Beach Volleyball Men's and Women's World Championships will be hosted in Stavanger, Norway. "It was a long and fair battle between Moscow and Stavanger to win the bid, but in the end the experience gained by Norway in organising major Beach Volleyball events over the past few years prevailed," said Dr. Acosta. "It will be really tough for Stavanger to present an event better than the last edition in Gstaad, but next year I'm expecting the best World Championships ever." Bjorn Maaseide, a world-class Beach Volleyball player, is the man behind the Stavanger project: "This is the biggest victory ever in Beach Volleyball for Norway," he said. "After 10 years of tournaments, a dream comes true. We beat Moscow thanks to the great support of our Institutions, the Minister of Culture, the Norwegian Olympic Committee and Stavanger's Mayor. "We're delighted to be the first Northern Europe country to host an FIVB World Championship and NRK will give its best as host broadcaster, showcasing the Beach Volleyball stars and the beauty of the host city all over the world," Maaseide said. The official signing ceremony and exchanging of contracts to confirm Stavanger as hosts of the tournament will be conducted in the near future. The 2009 SWATCH FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships are set to take place over 10 days on two courts from June 26 to July 5 as part of an innovative new tournament formula proposed by Stavanger, with total Prize Money of US$1 Million. Stavanger has been a fixture on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour calendar for 10 years, hosting Opens and Grand Slams. The chosen city will hope to emulate and improve upon the huge success of the 2007 SWATCH FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships powered by 1to1 energy in Gstaad, Switzerland. The 2005 World Championships were held in Berlin, 2003 in Rio de Janeiro, 2001 in Klagenfurt, Austria, 1999 in Marseille, France and 1997 in Los Angeles. Before this, the World Championships were played yearly in Brazil from 1986. Stavanger to host 2009 SWATCH FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships

Volleyball to chicken rearing - the youth of Zambia show off their entrepreneurial skills! What started out as five teenagers playing volleyball has led to an exciting new youth project in Mabwetuba, Mazabuka. Like most teenagers, the five friends hung around with little to do. The village has few opportunities but the friends decided to start a volleyball club which was easier said that done as they had no ball, no court and no net! Plastic grocery bags were transformed into a ball and a space cleared behind the community's health clinic. Before long, the group had grown to 17 members including six girls. They ranged in age from 12 to 22 years and most had experienced the death of one parent largely due to AIDS. About half the group were unable to attend school as they had to look after younger children at home. Some of group were HIV positive. As the numbers grew, the group decided to charge a small membership fee and appointed a treasurer, a secretary and a chairperson. Soon they were able to buy their own volleyball and net. Chairman of group Trust Mwemba continues, "One day, Plan's community development facilitator Fines Mweene stopped by the court to talk to us, he saw our enthusiasm for the game, our desire to stay out of trouble and for trying to make some money, so he decided that he would donate two additional balls. "We then decided to start a garden and Plan supported us to buy seeds for tomatoes, cabbages, rape seed and okra. Those of us in charge of households were given maize and bean seeds for the farming season. In November last year, Plan gave us six of us training in tailoring and gave us a started kit of six sewing machines. We are now able to support our families, we mostly make school uniforms and selling them locally. We contribute some of our earnings to a group fund and use this money to pay medical expenses for those who cannot afford to pay. So far we've help five members with medical bills. As the months go by, our group is becoming more entrepreneurial, we've started chicken rearing and passing chickens on to other members to rear more". The friends now called themselves Nadezwe Youth Advocacy Group and Plan continues to support them with training in child rights and HIV/AIDS awareness raising. Link Here

Russian team on top of the World February 6, 2008 Volleyball: Russian team on top of the World Volleyball fans were treated to a global all-star game on Druzhba arena in Moscow on Tuesday. The Russian national team was pitted against the rest of the world. 2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the International Volleyball Federation and 85 years since the sport was introduced in Russia. To celebrate the occasion an all star event was held in the Russian capital. The first such game was played back in 2005, when Russian club volleyball had only just begun to raise its profile and many top international players started to flock to the national league. Since then the country's Super League has attracted the likes of Italian coach Danielle Bagnole, top Brazilian spiker Giba and leading U.S. players Lloy Ball and Clayton Stanley. The current year is especially important for the Russian head coach Vladimir Alekno whose job it is to take the best possible squad at the summer Olympics in Beijing. But the Russian and international volleyball stars weren't the only ones in the spotlight at the sold-out Druzhba arena in Moscow. The country's top government officials led by the President Vladimir Putin put additional pressure on the national team by sitting in the centre row. The professionals did not flinch in front of the special guests, easily overpowering the world team in three straight sets.

Volleyball going awry - Kenya Volleyball going awry - Kenya Publication Date: 2/4/2008 The Kenya Volleyball Federation is about to make changes in the national women’s team after its failure to qualify for this year’s Olympic Games in Beijing. Kenya last month lost Africa’s sole ticket to Algeria. The federation now says it will dissolve the team and pick a new squad. But that is definitely not the long term solution to the problems that have affected the team that was once Africa’s undisputed champion. Going by its revolving-door policy, the KVF is bound to find itself picking “new” players from the same squad that has been playing for Kenya in the recent past as there isn’t a reliable reservoir of talent to avoid recycling. It’s time the federation’s officials realised that they are indeed part of the problem. The KVF lacks any meaningful development programme and only depends on players who graduate from school and in whom they have invested little in terms of coaching and exposure. The federation has often in the past concentrated on fielding the women’s team at expenses-paid tournaments like the World Cup and World Championships, ignoring all other development programmes. Even within the national team itself, federation officials are notorious for often interfering with the work of the coaches, especially when it comes to the selection of the national teams. The welfare of the players has never been a priority and in most cases, teams have to make do without allowances when on national duty. It is, therefore, a misplaced thought by the KVF to disband the team after missing the Beijing ticket, and wish away other pertinent issues that have led to Kenya’s slump in the game. A solid youth development programme, and the strengthening of lower-tier leagues, coupled with more exposure of coaches is the way to go if Kenya hopes to retain its hitherto tag of Africa’s volleyball queens.

New Mikasa Ball The new Mikasa ball: technical guide The new ball has been softened compared to the Mikasa MVP200. The panels shape has been completely redesigned. Cover material and the way of cementing carcass and panels have been changed: only line part, and not the complete carcass, is now glued. The new ball was tested with the best available technologies by the laboratories from Mikasa. They report that new balls bounce higher with less impact-power (softer) due to improved constructions. Ball flying orbit got stable, avoiding sudden drop, thanks to new panel shape and cover material. Moreover, the new model fly stable with dimples on the cover (with panel shape change) and controllability when tossing and receiving was improved (found at field tests by Mikasa Corporation) with better gripping. Two different designs were showed to the press and will be presented to World Cup teams, to ask for their opinion. One is similar to the typical Volleyball standard; one shows a more innovating look. New Ball November 2007

Volleyball for All The Volley All Festival also attracted in many cases local sponsors to work with the National Federations organizing this spectacular open and free activity for children which received t-shirts, caps, posters and balls for their participation. This first Volley All Festival reached all Continents and of course different approach and methods were applied but the main principles to organize a quality event where fun and entertainment prevailed was the main theme in this years mass Volleyball festival. The FIVB Development Commission is following closely up on the mass Volleyball concept and how to organize mass Volleyball events and it is foreseen that several courses related to the mass Volleyball strategy will be organized in 2008 in various Development Centres. This years photo is from the Volley All Festival in Germany which truly shows the spirit of how to prepare the mass Volleyball courts. The FIVB Development Commission was very satisfied with the initiative of the German Volleyball Federation and for the quality of the event. The promotion of the Argentinian Volleyball Federation must also be acknowledged as the poster made for the Volley All festival showed both passion and art when promoting the event as a proper communication and advertising are key factors when selling the event to the sponsors as well as the public. In Haiti another surprise story from this years event showed that the venue is not always the obstacle but rather the place where the opportunity lies. In the park called Champ de Mars 30 trucks moved tons of sand to play Beach Volleyball in a recreational park. The event also attracted the Mayor of Port-au-Prince as well as the Minister of Sports in this 2 day event where more than 40’000 people enjoyed the mass Volley atmosphere. The next Volley All Festival will take place next year in the week before or after July 1st. 2008 and this event is open for all FIVB National Federations. Let’s keep the ball flying! 01.11.2007 Volleyball for All

Foreign Players to be Limited?

One of the most important comments in the last weeks was the press release where the FIVB announced the limitation of foreign players on the court in clubs competitions. “We will forward this proposal to our next Board of Administration in March but I would like to stress that our first goal is to protect the young players’ right to play which is the key point: we need to promote local players, who will represent their country in our sport, to reach the court earlier in their career and not to be blocked by players affiliated to other Federations. National identity is reinforced through sports, and the last decision by the European Community in Porto seems to go in our same direction. We don’t want to stop the world’s top players to play in the best Leagues, but we will propose to the Board of Administration to have in each team a maximum of three players affiliated to another National federation, and a maximum of two on the court. In this way, younger players will have more opportunities to play at top level in their own countries side by side with the best players from any country.” Link FIVB