Antalya, Turkey, July 15, 2019. In this year’s CEV Beach Volleyball Coaches Workshop, held in conjunction with the CEV U22 Beach Volleyball European Championships 2019 in Antalya, the participants discussed the technical aspects of the game in preparing athletes for the transition to the senior level.

During the last two competition days of #EuroBeachVolleyU22, at the Grida City Hotel and at the main venue of the European Championship, Beach Volleyball coaches had the opportunity to attend one practical and two theoretical sessions and exchange ideas not only on the main topic of the workshop, but also on various other subjects of their concern. The participants were eager to attend the presentations of the two lecturers, Panagiotis Zakynthinos and Margo Wiltens, to network with each other, absorb all kinds of useful knowledge from the others, as well as share their own professional experiences.

Among about 30 participants were many of the coaches, whose young teams took part in #EuroBeachVolleyU22, as well as coaches who travelled to Turkey especially for the workshop from as far as Northern Ireland, Estonia, Ukraine and Cyprus.


Panagiotis Zakynthinos while making his presentation

“Creativity is an essential part of the game,” said Panagiotis Zakynthinos, Technical Advisor for Development at the Hellenic Volleyball Federation and head coach of the Greek junior national teams and the Beach Volley Academy Club in Athens, the topic of whose lecture was Creativity through practicing techniques. “I love creative players and I love to watch them and I love to coach them. They give a spark to the game. It is our job as coaches to evolve the game in order to make our players evolve. During the game we have many unusual situations that are not predictable by the game plan and require creative and spontaneous reactions.”

“How does a coach know what is the highest level for their athletes? First you need to understand where your athlete is and second which competition is compatible with their level of skill. Then it’s basically trial and error. You always want to go one level above and if you reach the highest level, in this case a five-star tournament, then you know that you have arrived,” Margo Wiltens from the Netherlands, currently the head coach of National Development Programmes at Volleyball Australia, shortly summarised her lecture on Performance Readiness.