School Project continues to spark Volleyball fever across Slovenia

Volleyball extra-curricular sessions in schools have continued in April across Slovenia and will be finished in the middle of May. Activities in clubs run in conjunction with the CEV School Project ‘Play Volleyball – Grow with it’ are planned until mid-June, but most of the clubs will switch from playing indoors to Beach Volleyball in the beginning of May.

The Volleyball Federation of Slovenia (OZS) has already started preparing for the next school year, more specifically by working on new graphics for promotional materials. It is still not official, but it is quite likely that Slovenian national team member Jan Kozamernik will become the first ambassador of the project. Two new volleyball clubs have been established, namely OK Sežana and Klub moderne odbojke from Višnja Gora. Both will be joining the CEV School Project soon. The club from Višnja Gora will be doing so already in the beginning of May with the delivery of a Beach Volleyball event.

Events in April
On Sunday, April 2, almost 150 kids aged 11 and younger gathered in Ljubljana at the Zmajčkov turnir event held by ŽOK Šentvid.

On Saturday, April 15, the SIP Šempeter Volleyball Club organised the 7th edition of the traditional Savinjska dolina Cup - SIP d.d. OPEN 2023 tournament for girls and boys aged 13 and younger. More than 1,000 youngsters from 90 teams gathered in Šempeter, Prebold, Griže, Žalec, and Braslovče and showed their skills to their parents, grandparents, and friends. A true volleyball festival which is traditionally part of the CEV School Project featured no less than 165 matches and every single of them was played in a spirit of fair play, thus achieving the most important objective (click here for further information).

On Wednesday, April 30, the volleyball Club ŽOK Domžale attended the municipality’s event ‘Spoznajmo se, praznujmo skupaj’ (which stands for ‘Let’s get to know each other, let’s celebrate together’) in the Češminov park in Domžale and presented Volleyball and the CEV School Project to local kids.

CEV School Beach Volleyball Festivals 2023
The Volleyball Federation of Slovenia has been working hard on finding co-organisers of CEV School Beach Volleyball Festivals that will be held during the summer. Despite many challenges, the number of festivals will increase from three in 2022 to five in 2023. Two festivals for kids in the U12 and U14 categories are confirmed, as well as three more in Koper, Maribor, and Zreče but dates for these still need to be fixed.

Confirmed:
3 June (reserve date 17 June) - Zmajčkov turnir v odbojki na mivki - Beach Volleyball festival in Ljubljana
8 July - Beach Volleyball festival in Novo mesto

Events confirmed, dates still pending:
- Beach Volleyball festival in Koper
- Beach Volleyball festival in Maribor
- Beach Volleyball festival in Zreče

Volleyball Camp OZS 2023
A Volleyball camp for girls and boys aged 15 and younger will be organised in Kozje between June 25 and 29. The new location (the previous five editions were held in Čatež) offers perfect conditions for volleyball practices, animation, and other activities. A maximum of 70 kids can apply for participation.