Volleyball camps involve dozens of kids from across Iceland

With the coaches responsible for running the CEV School Project ‘Play Volleyball – Grow with it’ busy with the national teams competing at the NEVZA U17 and U19 Championships held in Denmark and Finland, the Icelandic Volleyball Association (BLI) used the month of October to work with developers and graphic designers to create material which includes lesson plans for PE teachers of elementary, middle, and high schools. By using this material, PE teachers can find useful exercise games and drills to include Volleyball in a fun way into their regular PE classes. 

Moreover, two small volleyball camps were held over a weekend period. The first camp was held in the Reykjavík area between October 13-15, and a second took place in Húsavík from October 20 to 22, 2023. The first camp involved some 33 kids – 18 boys and 15 girls – with four coaches, Miguel Mateo Castrillo, Borja Gonzales Vicente, Atli Fannar Pétursson and Máni Matthíasson, representing the BLI on the ground. The later camp held in Húsavík featured 24 kids, 12 boys and just as many girls, and the same four coaches. Clubs involved in the camps included Þróttur Fjarðabyggð, Vestri, HK, Völsungur, Hamar, Afturelding, and KA.

Over the last weekend of October, the volleyball club Afturelding hosted a large-scale kids volley tournament with teams from across the country. More than 300 children participated in the tournament along with coaches involved in the CEV School Project. 

The Federation has scheduled as many as 10 school visits for the upcoming month to introduce their educational material to PE teachers and get them comfortable with their participation in the project before playing the game with kids from their school. 

The BLI are confident that the development occurring this past month will boost their numbers and increase results in terms of participants and teachers involved in the CEV School Project in the coming weeks and months.