EuroAsia Coaches Cooperation project finally underway in Bangkok

After many postponements and cancellations due to the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting travel restrictions, Volleyball coaches from Europe and Asia finally joined together onsite in Bangkok, Thailand to fulfil the Exchanges and Mobility in Sport initiative run by the CEV together with their colleagues from the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC).

An initiative that is literally breaking new ground, this is the first-ever project of its kind with two volleyball Confederations collaborating together for the development of their coaches and the future of coaching in elite Volleyball.

There have been many changes in the last months but eventually seven coaches travelled to Bangkok to learn from the two experts and speakers – Gert Van de Broek of Belgium and India’s SE Sridharan – and return to their respective teams/National Federations to disseminate the knowledge and apply methods/perspectives from both Asian and European style of high performance coaching at elite levels.

The programme for the upcoming week includes both theoretical and practical sessions, starting with those run by Gert Van de Broek – a long-time coach of the women’s national team back home in Belgium and member of the European Coaches Commission – and his team including Kris Eyckmans and Jan Vanvenckenray. These focus, inter alia, on coaching philosophy, talent identification and detection, coach leadership, and much more.

The practical sessions will be taking place at the FIVB Development Centre in Bangkok – as well as at the Sports Science Centre of the Sports Authority of Thailand.

The onsite programme started on Monday with a kick-off meeting attended by staff of the CEV and AVC, the speakers and their teams, as well as by the seven coaches selected to join the course: Andreas Reiser (Austria), Stijn Hoessels (Belgium), Nikola Dimitrov (Bulgaria), Frieder Strohm (Switzerland), Chris Todd (Australia), Feng Kun (China), and Mahsa Arasteh (Iran).

The list of those present at the meeting includes General Ronnachai Munchusoontornkul, Deputy Secretary General of the National Olympic Committee of Thailand, Mr Shanrit Wongprasert, AVC Honorary Vice President, Mr Somporn Chaibangyang, President of the Thailand Volleyball Association, Mr Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai, AVC Secretary General, Mr Songsak Chareonpong, Chairman of the AVC Referee Committee, and Mr Park Ki-Won, Chairman of the AVC Coaches Committee.

Click here for further information on the project.