158 Physical Education students become the country’s first certified sitting volleyball coaches and referees, as the Tanzania ParaVolley Association builds a sustainable pathway for the sport from the ground up.

The Tanzania ParaVolley Association (TPV), officially registered in March 2026, has wasted no time turning that registration into action. Through a combination of higher education partnerships, national coaching courses, and a clear long-term strategy, TPV has laid the foundation for sitting volleyball to grow across the entire country.

Building From the Classroom Up

Rather than starting from scratch each season, TPV chose to embed sitting volleyball directly into the country’s sporting education system. The Association partnered with Tanzania’s two leading institutions for sport and physical education:

• The University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) – Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, School of Education
• The College of Sports Development (Malya Campus)

As a result of these partnerships, around 300 Physical Education and Sport Sciences students will study sitting volleyball as part of their academic programs every single year, a built-in, renewable pipeline of future coaches, referees, teachers, and advocates for inclusive sport in Tanzania.

Tanzania’s First Certified Coaches and Referees

To put that foundation into practice, TPV ran its first National Level I Sitting Volleyball Coaching and Officiating Courses this July:

• Malya, College of Sports Development — 4–8 July 2026, 73 participants
• Dar es Salaam, University of Dar es Salaam — 9–13 July 2026, 85 participants

Together, the two courses trained 158 Physical Education students from across the country. Each course combined theoretical instruction, hands-on court training, and formal assessment. Every participant passed, earning National Level I Coaching and Candidate Referee Certificates, making them Tanzania’s first-ever certified sitting volleyball coaches and referees.

The courses were led by Alfred Selengia, World ParaVolley Level II Coach and Chairman of TPV, alongside Dr. Janeth Mlay, a lecturer in Physical Education and Sport Sciences at UDSM, a specialist in Adapted Physical Education, and a World ParaVolley Level I Coach.

A Strategy With the Whole Country in Mind

The 158 newly certified coaches and referees come from every corner of Tanzania, and they’re expected to do more than run local sessions — they will help establish the regional and district ParaVolley associations required under the Tanzanian government’s national sports structure.

Looking ahead, TPV’s next priority is getting sitting volleyball into primary and secondary schools, with a particular focus on schools serving learners with disabilities. Coaching courses for Physical Education teachers are planned to give educators the tools to introduce the sport in their own classrooms.

TPV is also working with education stakeholders toward a bigger milestone: including sitting volleyball in Tanzania’s National School Games, with the goal of national school competitions from March to June 2027. If successful, this would create a lasting talent pathway while giving children and young people with disabilities equal access to competitive sport.

Roots in World ParaVolley’s Coach Education

TPV traces this progress back to October 2025, when Tanzanian representatives took part in the World ParaVolley Level I and Level II Coaching Courses in Kigali, Rwanda. The knowledge and confidence gained there gave TPV the foundation to launch its own national coach and referee education program.

“The opportunity to participate in the Kigali courses directly enabled Tanzania to establish its first national coach and referee education program and initiate the systematic development of the sport,” said Alfred Selengia, Chairman of TPV.

World ParaVolley congratulates the Tanzania ParaVolley Association on this milestone and looks forward to supporting the continued growth of sitting volleyball across Tanzania, from university lecture halls to school gymnasiums nationwide.