Antalya, Turkey, May 15, 2014. The 2014 CEV Youth Beach Volleyball Continental Cup is an inaugural competition itself, but its conclusive stage, the Final, due to take place on May 16 and 17, will also mark the inauguration of a brand new facility, which is the result of the joint efforts of the Turkish Volleyball Federation and Akdeniz University in Antalya.
Behind this project lies a great, yet so logical and simple idea. The university provided the land on its campus and the federation took care of everything else – from the construction of the facility to its management. This way the new TVF Mediterranean University Beach Volleyball Center, as it was officially registered with the CEV, will serve for the benefit of both institutions, but most of all for the benefit of beach volleyball. TVF and Akdeniz University built this facility for all beach volleyball players – professional, non-professional, local, international, young and experienced...
Ozkan Mutlugil, TVF President, underlined that the federation’s objective is to raise the level of beach volleyball in Turkey and the new center is an important step towards this goal. “We are willing to make more investments into beach volleyball and Antalya will be our center,” he stated. “Akdeniz University cooperated with us and gave us the place for courts. We have three main courts that meet international standards and we have one warm-up court. We are very proud to host the 2014 CEV Youth Beach Volleyball Continental Cup Final at our new facility.”
Aydin Ozdemir, head of the Health, Culture and Sports Department at Akdeniz University, added that their academic institution wanted to contribute beach volleyball’s progress in Turkey. “This project is really important to us,” he explained. “After our meeting with President Mutlugil we said we are all in, because we are trying to develop young people’s attraction to sports. We will be very happy to be a part of Turkish beach volleyball.”
The CEV Youth Continental Cup Final, which will determine Europe’s representatives in beach volleyball at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, was originally scheduled to start today, May 15, but due to the national mourning declared in Turkey the matches were rescheduled for Friday. Still, the young athletes from all over Europe, who are in Antalya to chase their Olympic dreams, did get a chance to test out the new courts as their coaches did not miss the opportunity to use up the one extra day for practice and preparation before the start of the important event.
Click here for more detailed information on the 2014 CEV Youth Beach Volleyball Continental Cup Final.