President of Oceania Zonal Volleyball Association, Hugh Graham, provides an update on the development of volleyball in the region
FIVB Executive Vice-President and Oceania Zonal Volleyball Association (OVZA) President Hugh Graham is committed to improving the level of volleyball throughout Oceania. The FIVB recently had an opportunity to talk with Mr Graham about how, despite a challenging pandemic period, volleyball has continued to grow while empowering local volleyball stakeholders in collaboration with the FIVB.
Dear Mr Graham, as the President of the OVZA in the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC), could you tell us about the latest developments in volleyball/beach volleyball in the region?
Volleyball is by far the most popular sport in Oceania. On most family land, you will see a volleyball net stretched between coconut trees. The basic skill-set for volleyball is learnt at a very early age. Most of our villages also have a more formal outdoor volleyball court that is fed by these communities. Increasingly, beach volleyball courts are being developed by the National Federations (NFs) and the communities. Most island countries also have a national gym where they host national competitions with their elite athletes.
Volleyfest Cook Island one-star FIVB World Tour event
The top volleyball teams square off at the Pacific Games, which is Oceania’s regional multi-sport competition. We were challenged by FIVB President Dr Ary S. Graça F° at the 2018 FIVB World Congress in Cancun, Mexico to think outside the box and start developing beach volleyball. Our first strategy was to open up beach volleyball at the Pacific Games, including Australia and New Zealand, to make this a truly continental competition recognised by the FIVB, and this was successful at the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa.
To introduce a formalised beach volleyball programme to the national teams, many of Oceania’s NFs identified talent and paired national indoor team members together to create beach volleyball teams and continue the development of our beach volleyball. Oceania is prioritising beach volleyball in collaboration with the FIVB and Olympic Solidarity (OS).
Australia’s Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar won silver medals at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
Another priority for Oceania was to host at least two FIVB 1-star beach volleyball events, which we successfully delivered in early 2020 in the Cook Islands and Guam, as well as the Asian Volleyball…
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