School champions crowned in Estonia across multiple age groups

This past April 10, the Estonian Volleyball Federation did organise the final stage of the school competition open for young boys and girls aged 10-13 and previously involved in activities run under the auspices of the CEV School Project ‘Play Volleyball – Grow with it’. 

The top 16 teams, eight in each gender, from across Estonia competed at the event, thereby accounting for 130 young students taking to the court. Qualifiers at county level had previously taken place from October to February followed by a second round in four regions of the Baltic country contested in March. The top two teams from each regional qualifier progressed to the national finals. Peetri Kindergarten - Elementary School and Jüri Gymnasium, both teams hailing from Harju County, triumphed with their girls and boys, respectively. 

A week later, the final stage of the competition for players aged 14 to 16 was held as well, again with eight teams per gender and some 160 students overall. They also had progressed to the finals after making it through county and regional qualifiers organised earlier in the school year. The competition took place in Viljandi, central Estonia. The Tartu Catholic Education Centre from Tartu County claimed top honours with their girls, whereas Võru Kreutzwaldi Gümnaasium, from Võru County, were the boys’ winners. It is very important to notice that all winning teams come from outside of Tallinn, which shows that Volleyball is growing all over Estonia and develops successfully in schools across the whole country.

Two more tournaments are scheduled for May, with pupils aged seven to nine due to compete on May 15 in Kohila across two categories – ‘catching’ Volleyball and mini volleyball. A day later in Keila a tournament for students aged 14-16 will be held – and participants do not have to provide affiliation to any volleyball club or sports school to be eligible to participate.