School Project helps teams make debut at Croatian schools national championship

CEV School Project activities continued in March in Croatia where Regional Coordinator Vladimir Grudenić visited an elementary school in the city of Čakovec in the very north of the country. Volleyball in Čakovec has a long history and a rich tradition – and the Volleyball masterclass organised there focussed specifically on fourth graders. With the equipment provided through the CEV School Project, the Croatian Volleyball Association is helping to make Čakovec a notable Volleyball centre again – also with the help of local teacher Matija Horvat.

Moreover, from March 23 to 26, the city of Poreč hosted the Croatian National Volleyball Championship for elementary schools run in close cooperation with the Croatian School Sports Association. The Secretary General of the Croatian School Sports Association, Ivan Dujić, wished everyone the best of luck by opening the competition: “Take good memories with you, we are looking forward to the sporting moments you will give us on the court and off it too.”

A message of support and greetings from Türkiye was sent by national team member and Volleyball ambassador, Samanta Fabris. Some 24 girls’ and just as many boys’ teams from all over Croatia participated in the competition this year. A lot of schools that participated in the CEV Project featured too. The good thing is that the schools visited this year are participating in the finals of the championship for the first time, and the project is partly responsible for that.

A nice #fairplay story has come in from Primary School Petar Zrinski Jalžabet, where a player named Ivan smashed into a player of the opposing team, after which he immediately ran to the other side of the net, checked how the player was doing and apologised to him. The boys shook hands and gave each other a #highfive and returned to their respective teams.