CEV and CAVB join their efforts to further promote Volleyball in Africa

President André Meyer, together with the members of the Executive Committee, was absolutely pleased to welcome to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg a high-profile delegation of the African Volleyball Confederation (CAVB) consisting of President Dr. Amr Elwani, Vice President Mr. Majore Louis Timba and Technical Director Mrs. Howyda Mondy. The European and African Volleyball Confederations organized at the CEV premises a first common meeting to exchange their views about several topical issues and join their forces for a further promotion of Volleyball across the African continent.
CEV President André Meyer and CAVB President Dr. Amr Elwani both stressed out the importance of sharing their current knowledge and trigger off a new era in the interaction among Africa and Europe for a bright and promising future of Volleyball in their respective areas of authority.
The agenda for that first joint Executive meeting was pretty busy and demanding, as items dealing with coaching, refereeing, communication, sports management etc. were all at stake. Some issues will be more thoroughly analyzed during the next summit which has been scheduled for 2010, but nevertheless a few key decisions were already made during this first joint session here in Luxembourg and namely:
- As far as refereeing activities are concerned, the CAVB will invite members of the European Refereeing Commission (ERC) to lecture during its annual seminar and the respective Refereeing Commissions will also have to evaluate the possibility of nominating African and European referees to officiate matches overseas; moreover, some international African referees will be also invited to attend the seminar CEV will stage next March in Rome to boost an additional involvement of ladies into international Volleyball refereeing;
- Having been the first Continental Confederation to adopt the electronic score-sheet for all competitions staged under its umbrella, CEV will support CAVB in scouting activities helping in organizing and staging a seminar to have local scouters familiarize with that tool;
- CEV and CAVB will also organize coaching seminars where senior European coaches and prominent officials will be invited to take part; moreover, the two Confederations will promote joint training camps for coaches, with all additional details to be fixed next year;
- the European Volleyball Confederation is also leaving the door open for the eventual attendance to the various yearly educational seminars (refereeing, medical, communication & website, marketing, management of competitions etc.).
The joint Executive meeting came to an end in a very friendly atmosphere and set definitely the tone to strengthen and back up the positive ties that already mark the interaction between the European and African Volleyball families.