05/04/2016 10:15
Snow Volleyball’s Olympic connection
2016 CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour
Kronplatz / Plan de Corones, Italy, April 5, 2016. Snow Volleyball may not be an Olympic sport yet, but all participants in the final stop of the 2016 CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour already felt some connection to the Olympic Games. The reason for that was the Italian referee Davide Crescentini. He whistled some of the snow battles at Kronplatz / Plan de Corones and later this year he will officiate at the Beach Volleyball Olympic tournament in Rio de Janeiro – the highest honour any referee can get.
“To referee at the Olympic Games is a dream come true for me,” says 34-year-old Davide without hiding his emotions. “When I started whistling Beach Volleyball at the age of 17, I thought about it, but I did not trust it would happen. So when it happens, it is almost unreal. Last year I had a good season, but whether this means something or nothing I don’t know, because we cannot do anything, but our best. So maybe I was just lucky, but this year they decided to call me to Rio and there I will do my best, as always.”
The highest-level games that Davide Crescentini has whistled in his career so far were the women’s final at the 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship in Rome as a second referee and one of the semi-finals at the World Championship last year in The Hague as a first referee. But in Snow Volleyball this was only his second tournament.
“I was here, at Plan de Corones, last year as well. It is a lot of fun and really amazing. It is more relaxed and, as I like to say, it is less money, but more smiles. It is still all about enjoying the game,” says Davide, and contemplates whether Snow Volleyball may one day follow Beach Volleyball as one of the Olympic sports. “It has grown a lot, but it needs to grow more. It is a very good thing that now it is under the CEV. It certainly can become Olympic. This would be nice, because Snow Volleyball is a fun sport and it is a show – just like Beach Volleyball. But this is just the beginning of the path and a lot more work needs to be done.”
Davide was born in Forlì and still lives in the area, but he has moved to the countryside, because he likes “more green and less grey.” Maybe his love for nature is what prompted him to choose the outdoor versions of his favourite sport. He never really played any Volleyball in his life, but he is a second-generation Volleyball referee, as he was born in the family of Maurizio Crescentini, who was whistling indoor Volleyball in Italy’s top division and was one of the pioneers in Beach Volleyball refereeing in his country back in the 1990s.
“Since I was five years old I have been going with him to the games. I was working as a ball retriever, then I became a Beach Volleyball referee, now I am here, at this Snow Volleyball competition, and I will be at the Olympics in Rio. I am really happy. I just need to go there, feel the pressure I will feel there, and feel my knees shaking before the first whistle – I am really looking forward to all that. I don’t need to say anything, except that I love this game!” he sums it all up.
For further information visit also the official website www.snowvolleyball.com and the Instagram account @snowvolleyball
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