SNOW VOLLEYBALL - THE NEW GIRL IN TOWN

[Lloyd]

04/11/2016
Stakeholders give Snow Volleyball positive evaluation and predict Olympic future

Luxembourg, April 11, 2016. The 2016 CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour was the first competition in this new discipline ever to take place under the auspices of the European Volleyball Confederation. Following Snow Volleyball’s presentation at the XXXVI CEV General Assembly in Sofia, Bulgaria in October 2015, the continental governing body recognised the potential of this new attractive sport and decided to add it to its portfolio, alongside Volleyball and Beach Volleyball.

The inaugural edition of the CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour took place in March and April of 2016 and was deemed a success story by stakeholders and the general public alike. The tour consisted of three stops – one each in the Czech Republic, Austria and Italy. A total of 199 players (131 male and 68 female) took part, with nine different countries represented – Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. 16-year-old Felix Mast from Austria was the youngest athlete who participated in this year’s edition, while 42-year-old Fabio Cardoletti from Italy was the oldest.

At the end of the first CEV season, Europe’s ‘Queens and King of the Snow’ were eventually crowned. Italy’s Greta Cicolari, 2011 European champion in Beach Volleyball, was undoubtedly the biggest star on the 2016 Snow Volleyball European Tour. It took her and her snow partner Giulia Toti three attempts to win a gold medal, but with the silver medals from the first two stops, they claimed the historic crown from the overall ranking. Poland’s Michal Matyja, who took one first and one fourth place with Czech teammate Robert Kufa and one second place with compatriot Bartlomiej Podgorski, was the overall winner on the men’s side.

“The whole Snow Volleyball circuit was organised on a high level and it was a big pleasure to participate! Being the first European champion in history is a wonderful feeling and an amazing prize for the energy that my partners and I put together into the victory! I feel tremendous pride that Poland has the best Snow Volleyball player in Europe. I expect that next year the organisation will move forward, together we will create another great show, and in a few years we will see Snow Volleyball at the Winter Olympics,” said the inaugural CEV King of the Snow, Michal Matyja.

Of course, other than the players, who took on the challenge to entertain the numerous spectators with their fantastic athletic performances, the driving force behind the success of the European Tour was the company that started it all back in 2008 and is still tirelessly promoting the new sport – Chaka2 from Salzburg. Its devoted team of young professionals supported by a number of volunteers coming from as many as eight different European countries - Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Slovakia - worked hard to make the Tour happen. Having earned CEV’s recognition, the organisers of the Snow Volleyball European Tour made sure they lived up to the new expectations that stemmed from this partnership and they eventually provided a truly spectacular product for the European audiences.

“With the first CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour in 2016 a milestone in the history of the sport was reached this winter,” stated Martin Kaswurm, one of the two Managing Directors at Chaka2. “Our close cooperation with the CEV made it possible that this Tour was held for the first time. With the hundreds of athletes that participated in the newly introduced format, I predict a bright future for the sport in the upcoming years. The clear goal and vision must be to promote the sport internationally through broadcasting. This automatically leads to a wider audience, more participants on amateur and professional level, as well as a higher interest from the sponsors. We as the promoter of this young sport see a high similarity with Beach Volleyball back in the 1990s and, hence, a clear trend to make this sport Olympic in the next ten to twenty years. Together with the approximately eighty Snow Volleyball events already existing globally, this move is possible. We are excited about the future and the upcoming 2017 CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour.”

“The gradual integration of Snow Volleyball into the structure of the CEV worked very well in the first year and provided a fertile basis for all further steps to follow,” added the other CEO of Chaka2, Veit Manninger. “In order to extend the Tour further to more stops in the future, it is imperative to make the concept more attractive to potential sponsors through live streaming. Therefore, it should be possible to discuss this subject soon in order to successfully determine the direction for 2017.”

The European Volleyball Confederation is also very pleased with the outcome of its new partnership with Chaka2 and anticipates bright future for Snow Volleyball.

“The CEV is very much looking forward to the further development and growth of Snow Volleyball following the successful organisation of the first CEV European Tour in 2016, which included stops in the Czech Republic, Austria and Italy,” commented CEV President Aleksandar Boričić. “Fans and media alike have shown a lot of interest in this discipline which combines the essential features of our sport with the iconic stages provided by some of the most popular winter sports destinations. Snow Volleyball is expected to experience a steady, continuous growth in the years to come, which could ultimately lead to its inclusion in the programme of the Winter Olympic Games, thereby following a path similar to what happened to Beach Volleyball back in the 1990s.”

For further information visit also the official website www.cev.lu and the Instagram account @snowvolleyball

Fuente

[Lloyd]

[Lloyd]

04/05/2016
Altitude world record for playing Volleyball internationally

Playing Snow Volleyball Wednesday at the "Rosa Khutor" ski resort in Sochi.

Sochi, Russia, May 4, 2016 - A world record for playing Volleyball at altitude was set here Wednesday when men’s and women’s teams from France, Qatar and Russian competed at 2,320 meters (7,612 feet) at the highest point of the "Rosa Khutor" ski resort in Sochi.

The exhibition “Snow” Volleyball match was played as a side event for this week’s FIVB World Tour Sochi Open tournament at the Sport Inn where 48 men’s and women’s matches were played. The exhibition was also used to test the framework for the preparations for the "Rosa Khutor" stage of Snow Volleyball European Championship in 2017.

A new kind of sport, Snow Volleyball which earned official status from European Volleyball Confederation in 2016 while the CEV Snow Volleyball tour has been held in three countries. Snow Volleyball rules are very similar to the rules of Beach Volleyball - playground dimensions, the number of players (2 on 2) and the ball. The only difference is no sand and a lot of snow as the surface.

The guest of honor and the main referee for Wednesday’s competition was the two-time Russian Olympic Volleyball medalist Alexey Verbov. In the men’s match Wednesday, Russia’s Alexander Likholetov and Artem Khabibulin defeated Qatar’s Julio Cesar and Ahmed Tijan. The women’s winners were France’s Aline Chamereau and Ophelie Lusson, who defeated Russians Darya Rudykh and Elizaveta Zayonchkovskaya.

Three of four teams played in Tuesday’s qualification tournament of Sochi Open. Despite the inclement weather and heavy rain, which at some point was replaced by snow showers, the games were very competitive and played in a great atmosphere.

“It’s not the first experience of refereeing for me, but today the determining factor was the atmosphere that prevailed here on the court,” said Verbov. “It was a Volleyball holiday and not a sport event. We all had a great time, the charge of positive emotions. Snow Volleyball - a great sport, which undoubtedly has a future in Russia. After all, with the snow in our country we never had any problems. With the sand - sometimes yes, but the snow - definitely not. So, I can see this sport in the program of Winter Olympic Games in the future."

For Qatar players, the snow and the weather conditions were a real challenge. "I've seen snow in my life before in Slovakia, but I have never played Volleyball on it,” said Tijan. “It was an incredible spectacle, unbelievable emotions. It was really cool! Thank you for this opportunity."

"The idea of ​​hosting the stage of European Snow Volleyball championship in Sochi was immediately supported by both the representatives of All-Russian Volleyball Federation and the resort," said the tournament director of FIVB Sochi Open, the general director of All-Russian beach sports Association Ilya Volodarsky.

"It's really a great spectacle that was presented for the guests of "Rosa Khutor" today. Since Snow Volleyball and Beach Volleyball are very similar in its format and the rules - it was decided to hold an exhibition match during the Sochi Open Beach Volleyball event," Volodarsky added. "The same as in Beach Volleyball this new kind of sport is accompanied by music, cheerleaders dances and other elements of the show. I think that everything went fine for the first time, although not under the best weather. We will continue to work on the development of this sport in Russia."

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[Miami]

Qué frío. Lol

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[JuanD]

Yo me pregunto ¿Podrá Brasil ser potencia en Snow volleyball?

[Lloyd]

Post

[chilabear]

Una jalada de los pelos

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