CEV School Project breaks all records in 2023/2024

The CEV School Project ‘Play Volleyball – Grow with it’ did again fulfil its purpose to inspire youngsters from across Europe to fall in love with the game by reaching as many as 78,417 children throughout the past school year, thereby accounting for a massive 32% increase year on year.

With partnerships in place with almost 30 National Federations, the CEV School Project is spreading the love for Volleyball at a fast pace and laying the foundations for the next generation of players to emerge even though for now the focus is primarily on fun and the promotion of a healthy lifestyle. If we look closer at the numbers, girls still account for the most children involved – with 46,487 reached throughout the last school year (+39% compared to 2022/2023). However, some National Federations have worked hard to stimulate the participation of boys as well and the resulting figures are extremely encouraging, with an increase by 28% year on year to get some 31,930 young boys involved in CEV School Project activities. 

There have been almost 200 capacity building events organised for coaches and PE teachers, spanning from workshops, seminars and webinars – truly great opportunities to further education, share best practices and improve the knowledge of the game. Consequently, the number of teachers and coaches reached through the project has increased by a terrific 87% (5,045 people) as well. 

What is even more impressive from the work done by National Federations at the grassroots level is their ability to liaise with and involve an increasing number of clubs and schools in their activities. The number of schools reached this year stands at 2,094 (+86%), whereas the same figure for clubs is 451 (+30%). 

The ability of the CEV School Project to mobilise people around Volleyball is truly remarkable. If we were to look at the gross total comprising children, teachers, coaches, staff and everyone else involved in the events run under the CEV School Project umbrella across Europe, we get to 316,958 people! This represents some kind of real ‘Volleyball army’ of people spending time together, with parents, coaches and teachers providing kids with opportunities to develop physically and mentally as well – while forging friendships and learning values that will hopefully last a lifetime.