Volleyball veterans descend on Milan for highly successful masters event

The International Veteran Volleyball Association (IVVA) organised for the first time in history a major Volleyball and Beach Volleyball veteran tournament in Milan, Italy, which is worldwide known as the city of fashion, but also as a real Volleyball Mecca, since Volleyball is the second most popular sport there only behind soccer. 

Last week, with the participation of some 400 lovers of the sport from 20 countries, it was shown that you can play Volleyball at any age and stage of your life. Italians do not take age as an excuse for not playing sports, and on the contrary claim that one has aged well or not aged at all – so to speak – through playing sports. The proof was the participation of Paolo De Cara, who at 77 years of age showed his skills on the sand, just like his Slovakian peer Jozef Orgonik (78) did at the facilities where elite club Allianz Powervolley MILANO is based. Age categories were announced to involve players from the age of 34 and 40 for women and men, respectively. The organisers for the first time also included mixed teams in Beach Volleyball, where among others Lucilla Perrotta, a two-time Olympian and former European champion, was involved. 

“Milan was very interested in hosting our tournament here and we decided to try a new destination at the very beginning of the season alongside our traditional autumn event in Mallorca. We had at our disposal the venue where the Italian national team plays, and for Beach Volleyball, we chose a venue with good quality sand, in short it was felt that Italy is a real volleyball country. It attracted, besides our traditional participants, about half of new players who took advantage of the good accessibility of this attractive place. All of them managed to pick up, besides the sporting experience, other tourism-related experiences, which fulfilled what we all hoped for from Milan, so getting to know another sporting destination, including its lifestyle, gastronomy, history, culture, and entertainment,” said Adam Kubala, IVVA Vice-President, who thanked Milan for its exceptional support and warm hospitality, which contributed significantly to the success of the event.

“Even though the sea was missing, it turned out that the atmosphere is mainly created by the participants themselves, who create a strong community and make new friends. Even if they do not give anything away in the matches and sometimes the fights get quite heated, fair play prevails in the end and everything is forgotten during the closing ceremony. You can also see the excellent condition of all participants, because they always have enough strength left in the tank for a great party. There they usually make sure that they will see each other again at the next event. That is the Championships in Mallorca on 7-12 October,” adds Czech Olympian Přemysl Kubala. 

For further information and detailed results, visit www.ivva.eu