Lausanne, 29 July 2008 - Dominica, a beautiful island in the Caribbean was the stunning setting for the Young Players Volleyball Cooperation Programme held earlier this month. Facilities for Volleyball on this island were not ideal for developing the sport as the only indoor court on the island was a long way from St. Mary’s Academy in Roseau where the course was held. However, « where there’s a will there’s a way » as the saying goes, so the FIVB instructor, Mr. Gustavo Meczyk, together with the President of the Dominica Amateur Volleyball Association, Mr. Rupert Sorhaindo, stepped in to make two courts.

The Young Players made the most of the course to improve their skills and the instructor was very satisfied with the result. The spirit of the Volleyball Cooperation Programme is to overcome difficulties and the enthusiastic participation of all the young people together with the determination of the members of the Volleyball Association prove that Volleyball can be played with limited resources, even when basic equipment is not available.

Lausanne, 28 July 2008 - The Volleyball Cooperation Programme is currently staged in Malaysia in the capital Kuala Lumpur, from 25th until 30th July. The course content is Beach Volleyball and the topic is how to “Get involved”, carried out by the FIVB Instructor Mr. Avelino Azevedo, from Portugal. The primary target of this course is to improve the knowledge and competence of Beach Volleyball players and to present the most recent trends of the modern game to the participants.  This is also the first time that a Beach Volleyball course has been conducted in Malaysia. In total 38 participants from all over the country showed up for this important course where both practical and theoretical lessons in the excellent facilities of the National Sports Complex of Sukan Negara were given.  So far the course has revealed that that there are up and coming promising Beach Volleyball players in Malaysia and that there is a need for the National Federation to develop national courses in Beach Volleyball in order to promote and increase the potential of this dynamic discipline.

Lausanne, 25 July, 2007 – The Volleyball Cooperation Programme was successfully carried out in the land locked Bhutan in the Himalayas where young players gathered in the capital Thimpu with the FIVB course instructor Mr. Chuanlun LIU, who had 36 participants for this one week course in the beginning of July. The Bhutan Volleyball Federation has in the last 3 years worked actively on developing new talents and courses in the field of coaching and refereeing have been conducted in Bhutan during this period. The overall assessments of participants revealed that there are talents in place but more courses and active development targets must also be developed by the federation which has shown interest in improving its working conditions by obtaining proper indoor facilities.

Lausanne, 18 July, 2008 – The Volleyball Cooperation Programme was well received in Tanzania in the first week of July, where the FIVB instructor, Mr. Zohair Ammar from Egypt instructed motivated group of young athletes which were willing to learn as much as possible during this one week course which took place in the capital Dar Es Salaam.  The young player’s course is extremely useful as it stimulates young talented athletes to improve their knowledge in Volleyball as well as improving their technical skills through active game like situations where the focus is on how to play.  In the African Continent the young players courses are essential for National Federations as they aim at bringing up the new talents as the 32 participants confirmed after the course.