New dates for the 2021 #EuroSittingVolley

You will find below a communication from the ParaVolley Europe President on the current situation which is impacting all our competitions.

“Dear sports friends,

We are currently living through an unprecedented pandemic situation and instead of meeting each other in Sports Halls, we have only digital media to communicate with each other.  The Paravolley Europe Board with its commission has tried many times this year without success to organise many events but since the safety of our Athletes is our first priority, we had to back down in front of the Covid-19 situation.  However we are not giving up as next year’s competitions are fast approaching and we all together should be involved in what is optimal for our athletes.

As a consequence of the above and following the current Covid-19 situation and vaccine development, the PVE Board has decided together with the organisers in Turkey to change the planned #EuroSittingVolley championship dates from May 2021 to October 2021 (one month after the Paralympic Games).

The European Sitting Volleyball Championships for all the active European Women and Men’s teams will be the main event next year. While this year we could not organise the European Championship Division B, we have made the decision for next year to include this competition within the European Championship A. This will result in a big European Sitting Volleyball festival in Turkey in October with hopefully over 30 teams in attendance.  PVE, the LOC and local authorities will ensure they apply all the safety and sanitary conditions in place and each participating Nation will be informed about the developments on that level.

We are hoping that we can all resume practice and competitions early next year.  Later in the first half of the year, we are planning to organise the Nations Leagues competition consisting of different level groups based on the PVE ranking points. Should any nation/city/club want to organise such event as it was planned this year (Golden/Silver Nations League), please do contact us and we will organise this together. The format could be similar as this year or even smaller with more groups but fewer teams. This competition will be sanctioned with PVE ranking points.

We had also planned this year to hold the first Clubs Euro League but this was also unfortunately cancelled. Only a few clubs applied for the 2020/21 Euro League and we will see whether it will be possible to play it by the latest in June. However we do hope that the 2021/22 year will be THE year for all our new competitions to take place.

In addition to the competitions calendar, there will be many additional events such as education for all (referees, coaches, classifiers, international technical officers) and strategy weekends.  However in the meantime, we have to get through this winter and keep the communication going between each other at a digital level, praying for next year to be our year.

We will soon provide you with more information regarding the 2021 European Championships exact dates, format, etc…. We do welcome your suggestions and feedback and also expect you to keep on being active by suggesting organisers for the Nations League competitions.  In addition, please keep up the good work that has taken place by continuing to share your nationalevents with us on Workplace or sending us information about known events happening in Europe.

Stay healthy, take care, inform our community about your activities and see you soon. Next year will be our year!

With my best regards,

Branko MIHORKO – PVE President”

Please follow and like us: