World ParaVolley releases COVID-19 Position Statement and Return to Sport resources

The World ParaVolley Board of Directors has released a Position Statement related to COVID-19.

The Position Statement specifies the stance that World ParaVolley has taken in relation to competitions and courses and COVID19 for the rest of the 2020 year. It is subject to ongoing review at regular intervals and applies until rescinded by the World ParaVolley Board.

World ParaVolley has the aim of protecting the health and well-being of all athletes, teams, officials and volunteers in the first instance, irrespective of costs, competition plans, grants and training courses. This is our first responsibility in the light of COVID19. At the same time, World ParaVolley must accept that a return to competition is desirable as soon as possible.

This Position Statement has been based on information provided by:

  • The World ParaVolley Athletes’ Commission
  • The ParaVolley Europe Athletes’ Commission
  • The World ParaVolley Medical Advisor
  • The World ParaVolley Legal Advisor
  • The World ParaVolley Medical Department

The full Position Statement can be found HERE.

With the ultimate aim of protecting the health and well-being of all athletes, teams, officials and volunteers, the Position Statement is applicable until considered to be no longer required in line with medical advice.

The Position Statement has been built through an exhaustive process and discussed at length amongst a large cross-section of stakeholders.  Guiding principles from other sport groups and the World Health Organization were considered in its development.

In addition to the Position Statement, the Board has adopted the following three ParaVolley-specific documents to help World ParaVolley Zones and member nations should they move forward with conducting events:

Each of these tools has been written with consideration given to indoor and beach volleyball risk mitigation strategies.  However, sitting volleyball and beach paravolley require their own set of discipline-specific strategies, which have been developed by ParaVolley experts from World ParaVolley’s Medical, Technical, Referees, and Rules of the Game Commissions, and are included in these tools.

The International Paralympic Committee has developed the following document to provide guidance for classification during COVID-19: “IPC Classification hygiene and infection control guidelines during COVID-19