IPC, World ParaVolley, FIVB – Cooperation Creates Opportunities

Rotterdam, the Netherlands, July 26, 2018 – At a historic meeting facilitated by the IPC President, Andrew Parsons, World ParaVolley President Barry Couzner OAM met with the FIVB General Director Fabio Azevedo during the Sitting Volleyball World Championships in the Netherlands last Friday.

The informal meeting took place after all three participants watched the World ParaVolley Sitting Volleyball Women’s World Championship semifinal match between two top women’s teams from China and eventual winners Russia on the stage of a theatre in Rotterdam.  This has not been done before.

Taking the view that both FIVB and World ParaVolley focus on the whole of Volleyball as a worldwide sport, with the latter specifically delivering events and activities for athletes with a physical impairment/disability, the discussion theme was that opportunities for the athletes could be created through genuine cooperation.

It was clear that in the future both world organisations would develop Volleyball as a sport for all, by agreeing to communicate and work together on such areas as Beach, coach education, referee courses, technology, promotion, marketing etc.  A follow up meeting has been arranged for mid-August as the organisations work towards signing a MoU for the first time.


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