Hundreds of school pupils join volleyball festivals in Estonia
News
April has been a very busy month for the CEV School Project ‘Play Volleyball – Grow with it’ in Estonia.
It started with a very important school visit to Tallinn Reaalkool, where Estonian champions from Taltech University men’s and women’s teams visited local students, with activities organised at the Kalev sports hall. The kids participated in a practice with the players, and they were also able to watch them demonstrate their abilities and could ask questions, autographs, and tips on how to become a champion.
The PE teacher who is also a volleyball coach himself – Marko Mett – said that this sort of school visit is very important for the kids to see the players demonstrate their abilities live. Through TV, it just does not look that amazing or powerful and instantly kids get a better overview of the players and want to be more like them.
Moreover, in April the Estonian Volleyball Federation (EVF) delivered three school volleyball festivals for three different age groups.
On April 12 kids from gymnasiums, aged 15-17, competed in Tallinn. As many as 16 different schools with around 150 players were involved in the festival. All participating teams received CEV school volleyballs for further practices. Members of the Tallinn City Council were there to award the participating teams.
Five days later in Tartu County, southern Estonia, kids from primary schools, aged 9-12, joined the next such festival. Again 16 different schools accounting for around 120 kids joined in the activities. The awards were handed out by Tartu Volleyball Club Duo coach Karl Kuhlberg. Each participant also got a small gift from EVF sponsor Super Skypark.
Finally, on April 19, some 150 students from 16 middle schools, aged 13-15, contested the latest such festival held in Tallinn. The awards, including balls and small souvenirs, were handed out by Estonian Volleyball Federation member Gadi Rohtjärv. Mr Rohtjärv has been involved with Estonian school volleyball more than 10 years and said that it is great to see that after a few years affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of participants in school volleyball is growing again and kids are able to enjoy the game. The Estonian Volleyball Federation is hoping for the growth of club teams in the future to follow as a result.
In May, the EVF is planning to deliver a last indoor festival at the beginning of the month and will then start outdoors actions for the youngest ones as soon as the weather conditions allow for these to go ahead.
