18/01/2016 11:37
EBVC kicks off annual CEV Commission meetings, works on long-term strategic plan to further grow Beach Volleyball in Europe
News from the CEV
Luxembourg, January 18, 2016. A few busy weeks for Europe’s Volleyball family with many more events to follow soon started with the annual meeting of the European Beach Volleyball Commission (EBVC) which took place last Friday and Saturday at the CEV headquarters in Luxembourg City. This was the first meeting chaired by EBVC President Michel Everaert who has been at the helm of the Commission since last 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 number of CEV sanctioned events and featured two major highlights, i.e. the first ever European Games in Baku and the 2015 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship Final held at Austria’s largest sandbox in Klagenfurt, one of the sport’s real ‘Meccas’.
The EBVC members could also evaluate 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 stages focussing 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 will be inspired to take it up and possibly pursue a career in the sport.
Plans for the much anticipated 2016 season were reviewed as well, with the European calendar featuring three major highlights, starting with the CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship Final in Biel/Bienne (Switzerland) on June 1-5 to be followed shortly afterwards 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 on June 22-26 will secure a spot for their country to compete at the Rio 2016 Olympics. After making its first appearance on the European circuit in 2014 and hosting last year’s inaugural Masters, the city of Jurmala will be hosting from September 1 to 4 a double-gender Masters which will serve as the perfect rehearsal for the European Championship Final that Latvia’s most popular seaside resort will be hosting in 2017.
The EBVC members shared their views and contributed to setting the key parameters of a new CEV event structure and approach to be implemented from the 2017 season onwards following the eventual approval by the CEV Board of Administration. This should result from focussing on a number of primary goals such as sustainability and the long-term growth of the sport while cooperating more closely with the local organisers according to the strategic vision which is being pursued by the new CEV leadership and President Boričić.
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