18/03/2016 15:21
Kids fall in love with Snow Volleyball in Wagrain
2016 CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour
Wagrain-Kleinarl, Austria, March 18, 2016. Adorable young hopefuls got to meet Snow Volleyball at about 1,900 metres above sea level and fell in love with this new and attractive sport. A Kids Day took place on Friday morning in the tourism region of Wagrain-Kleinarl to kick off a weekend, which will also feature the battles of the second stop on the 2016 CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour on Saturday and Sunday.
The turnout at the Ski Area Wagrain in Ski Amadé in the Austrian Alps was impressive as 163 schoolchildren from Wagrain, aged between 6 and 10, enjoyed the sunshine, the snow, the spectacular landscapes and, of course, their first encounter with Volleyball of any kind.
After an amusing warm-up on the snow, three instructors on three different courts showed the kids the ins and outs of Snow Volleyball, taught them about serving, spiking, blocking and receiving, but most of all, made sure the young girls and boys had a lot of fun and would go home with some unforgettable memories.
“I loved the Kids Day today,” says 7-year-old Viktor Brown. “I liked it when I had to shoot the ball over the net.” Asked whether he could see himself as a professional Snow Volleyball player when he grows up, Viktor did not hesitate to nod in affirmation. “I enjoy being here. I like everything about Snow Volleyball, but most of all I like setting the ball with my two hands,” adds 9-year-old Lorenz, smiling and excited.
At the end of the day, each participating kid received a Snow Volleyball Certificate from the Austrian Volleyball Federation. Balls were also given away to the schools.
“The Kids Day today was really a great success,” comments Martin Kaswurm, Managing Director at Chaka2, the company promoting and delivering the CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour. “We organised three different stations, where these children were interacting with Volleyball for the first time and playing actually on snow. This is a really good grass roots programme for us as organisers of the Tour. This is definitely our focus for the future, but we have to put even more effort in to get these kids involved in Volleyball. Some of the children participating in the Kids Days will be invited as the official ball retrievers for the Tour and, from what we have experienced in the past, some of these ball kids will end up applying to compete at the qualification tournaments. This would really be the best case scenario. There was a really big demand from the schools to participate in today’s Kids Day in Wagrain. We could have easily had 800 or 900 participating children, but unfortunately, due to logistical and financial limitations, we could not accommodate everybody.”
The organisers of the CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour stay in close contact and cooperate with the schools for months before the Tour actually starts and help them implement Volleyball in their programme. “This is not always easy, but we give them advice, we give them materials about the rules and regulations, not only of Snow Volleyball, but any kind of Volleyball, because we want to make them accessible to a greater audience,” Kaswurm concludes.
For further information visit also the official website www.snowvolleyball.com and the Instagram account @snowvolleyball
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