Continuous contact with students through school visits and clinics helps grow the game in Malta

The CEV School Project ‘Play Volleyball – Grow with it’ has helped in different ways the promotion of Volleyball all over Malta in a way that numbers have increased both in all School Tournaments or Festivals run by the Malta Volleyball Association (MVA) and in local clubs.

The project is delivered in various schools daily, thus keeping contact with many students for several weeks, or in one-off events where different schools gather for an eventful morning.
 
Two schools who are benefiting of the longer-term programme for the first half of this scholastic year are St Benedict College Zurrieq Primary School and St Clara College San Gwann Primary School. 
 
At Zurrieq, for all Year 4 to Year 6 classes, this is a continuation of what was already done in previous years, while at San Gwann, this is the first time that this project is reaching the whole school, for all classes from Year 1 to Year 6. This means that around 600 students from 40 classes are practicing Volleyball at least once a week during the ‘Ready, Set, Play’ programme organised by the Physical Education and Sport Department within the Education Department. These sessions are delivered by the MVA School Project Manager together with the respective school PE teachers.

On the other hand, one-off events are also organised where Volleyball is promoted in events whose aim is to introduce the game and try to make the children fall in love with Volleyball. 
 
One of these clinics was held on Thursday, February 8, at the Cottonera Sports Complex. On the day, four schools participated with 64 students from Year 7 & 8. 
 
SBC Kirkop Middle School, STC Ta’ Paris Middle School, St Albert College and QSI International School Mosta were present. For the first two, this was another event which consolidated their work within their schools, while for the latter two, this was their first ever participation in MVA events.

For many of the students this was a new experience where they met peers from other schools and made new friends. The highlight of the morning was playing 3v3 in view of the festival to be held in April for this age group, and for which all these four schools have confirmed their participation together with other schools.