Plenty of action in Cyprus as CEV School Project activities resume

The elementary schools in Cyprus re-opened their doors on September 11, 2023, and by that time, the Cyprus Volleyball Federation had already sent the annual official letter to the Cyprus Ministry of Education and Sport to get the permission to enter schools across the country to promote Volleyball as part of their curriculum for the fifth year running.

The last activities run in conjunction with the CEV School Project ‘Play Volleyball – Grow with it’ dated back to mid-June, when two tournaments – for players under the age of 13 and 12, respectively – were organised by the end of the school year. In July, the Cyprus Volleyball Federation introduced the CEV School Project in summer camps held in two elementary schools, one in Nicosia and the other in Limassol, thereby involving some 100 kids in each location. 

For the resumption of activities in September, coaches Foteini Massou and Theodoros Tooulias prepared an educational training programme targeting 45 primary school physical education teachers working with kids aged 7-12. It covered the primary schools of Larnaca district and town as well as the free areas of the Famagusta district. Massou and Tooulias delivered a theoretical and a practical session focussing on how to teach Volleyball to primary school pupils. 

Mid-September the annual CEV Coaches Convention took place in Sofia (Bulgaria) and Cyprus was represented there by four coaches – Maria Aristeidou, Antri Michaelidou, Ioanna Konstantinou, and Anastasia Pantelidou. 

Moreover, the renowned club Omonia NICOSIA organised a special event under the slogan ‘We change lives’ which took place in a Nicosia ballroom called ‘Pavilion’ on September 29, 2023. Three days earlier a press conference was held as well. The event was a part of a programme designed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the club. More than 100 persons, including officials from the Cyprus Volleyball Federation, attended along with many kids (junior players of the club – both boys and girls). There were six lectures on various topics as follows:

•    Mr Nikos Sapountzis - Human resources specialist
•    Mrs Kyriaki Konstantinou - Master NLP Practitioner 
•    Mrs Thaleia Panayi - Sports Psychologist 
•    Mrs Nikoletta Dorzi - Clinical dietician 
•    Mr Christos Christofi - Life Designer and NLP Practitioner 
•    Mr George Stephanides – Cyprus Volleyball Federation Technical Director and Physical Education teacher, Cyprus CEV School Project Manager presenting “This is Volleyball”.  

The main goal of this event was to highlight the benefits of sports in children’s lives and their integration into society. At the end of the session, Omonia presented honorary awards to the six lecturers.