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School Project activities help motivate kids to stay active and play the game

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Article Sun, Dec 13 2020
Luxembourg, December 13, 2020. The current circumstances are certainly challenging in many ways and yet a number of National Federations are still able to continue with their extensive work to grow Volleyball at the grassroots level. This is especially important at times when there are very little opportunities for socialisation, also for kids.

After delivering Volleyball masterclasses in Minsk and Gomel, the Belarus Volleyball Federation have announced that they are now planning to take the CEV School Project to the city of Mogilev in late December. There are still restrictions in place in the country for activities involving children, but the organisers are hoping to hold another successful event in a city where Volleyball is already ‘at home’ – since Mogilev has hosted many international competitions, including European qualifiers involving the men’s and women’s national teams of Belarus.
 
Late November and early December was a busy and exciting time for Volleyball Denmark and their partners, with the organisation of visits to Rødding skole and Rødding Friskole among the highlights. Representatives of Rødding Volleyball club have organised sessions with the local school pupils and their teachers – and they were especially happy to see many of the kids expressing the wish to visit the club. The two schools have received a number of volleyballs, which can only help make sure that the masterclass will have a lasting legacy.


 
Moreover, the people of Midtfyns Volleyball Club visited Ringe Friskole and Nordagerskolen, again delivering activities involving their respective pupils. The programme included as many as four visits and nine Volleyball classes, plenty of matches and drills to make sure the kids would learn the basic skills of the Volleyball game. This is only the beginning of a very ambitious plan, with visits to another two schools already scheduled for the spring of 2021. Again, the balls provided by Volleyball Denmark and the CEV were a welcome bonus and Midtfyns Volleyball Club now hopes that many of the kids will take up the game at their premises.


 
A number of players currently taking part in the youth national championship for the club of Gio Strumica joined a session organised in the Macedonian city to share their experience and knowledge of the game with their younger colleagues. Strumica is North Macedonia’s Volleyball ‘capital’, since many of the Macedonian Volleyball stars come from this very same city. The organisers hope that the CEV School Project will help grow the next generation of national team players and will prolong the Volleyball tradition that Strumica has developed over the years.

Moving to Azerbaijan, to cope with the restrictions in place to curb the spread of the pandemic, the Azerbaijan Volleyball Federation has started a programme of online fitness and Volleyball exercises and trainings for the younger kids up until the age of 12-13. Several teachers and coaches participate in the online classes, while waiting for in-person activities to re-start when conditions allow.