snow volleyball night · snow volleyball night snow volleyball night is an event jointly organised...

SNOW VOLLEYBALL NIGHT

FEBRUARY 14, 2018

PRESS KIT

2PRESS KIT | Snow Volleyball Night

SNOW VOLLEYBALL NIGHT

Snow Volleyball Night is an event jointly

organised by the International Volleyball

Federation (FIVB) and the European Volleyball

Confederation (CEV).

It will take place during the Winter Olympic

Games in PyeongChang, South Korea on February

14, 2018 at the Austria House.

An exhibition match will take place at 16:00,

featuring male and female volleyball and beach

volleyball stars from Austria, Brazil, China, Serbia

and South Korea.

Players will compete in a mixed gender, three-a-

side match in a best of three sets competition.

The first two sets end with the first team to

reach 21 points, and the third with 15. A special

court format of 7m X 14m will be tested during

the event.

The match will be followed by a press conference

at 17:30, convened for an announcement on the

development of snow volleyball worldwide and

future plans for the sport, including the inaugural

snow volleyball European Championships in

March 2018 in Austria. At 18:30, there will be a

reception and a chance to find out more about

snow volleyball.

The public is invited to watch the exhibition

match on February 14 and attend the family

event at Austria House on February 15 to join

some of volleyball’s true legends on the snow.


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Gilberto (Giba) Amaury de Godoy Filho was

widely regarded as one of the best volleyball

players in the world for much of the 2000s.

The Brazilian won a gold medal at the Athens

2004 Olympic Games, as well as silver medals

at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympic

Games, and was victorious at three World

Championships (2002, 2006, 2010). During his

professional career he played for clubs in Brazil,

Italy, Russia, Argentina and the United Arab

Emirates. Giba is now the President of the FIVB

Athletes’ Commission.

Emanuel Rego represented Brazil in beach

volleyball at five consecutive Olympic Games.

Emanuel won gold at Athens 2004, as well as

silver in 2012 and bronze in 2008. As well as

being the recipient of many individual awards

for his incredible athleticism, Emanuel is a three-

time world champion, two-time Pan-American

Games gold medallist and is an expert on the

FIVB Athletes’ Commission.

One of the most decorated volleyball players

of his generation, Grbić is a member of the

International Volleyball Hall of Fame, having

won gold at the Sydney 2000 and bronze at

the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games. The Serbian

has won medals at both World and European

Championship level, as well as reaching the

World League podium three times during his

distinguished career, and now represents the

FIVB Athletes’ Commission as Secretary.

With the event being hosted by the Austria

House, Nikolas Berger is sure to be a fan

favourite. Having played both indoor and beach

volleyball during his career, it seems only natural

that Berger would now attempt snow volleyball!

A four-time Austrian volleyball champion, Berger

also represented his country on the sand at the

Athens 2004 Olympic Games, and won gold at the

2003 European Beach Volleyball Championships

in Alanya, Turkey before retiring in 2008.

GILBERTO (GIBA) AMAURY DE GODOY FILHO

BRAZIL

EMANUEL REGO BRAZIL

VLADIMIR GRBIC SERBIA

NIKOLAS BERGER AUSTRIA


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The Chinese beach volleyball star burst onto the

scene in 2006 when, aged just 17, Xue won the

China Shanghai Jinshan Open. She went on to

win a bronze medal at her home Olympic Games

in Beijing, and narrowly missed out on another

medal four years later in London. Xue is a two-

time World Championship medallist, winning

gold in 2013 and bronze in 2011, and currently sits

as a member on the FIVB Athletes’ Commission.

A MVP in volleyball at the London 2012 Olympic

Games, Kim has represented South Korea on

some of the FIVB’s biggest stages throughout her

career. Kim won the Asian Games in 2014, and

also has a silver medal from 2010, as well as four

Asian Championship podium finishes, including

a bronze at last year’s event in the Philippines.

She won the CEV Volleyball Champions League in

2012 with Fenerbahce SK ISTANBUL, receiving the

award for the Most Valuable Player of the Final

Four tournament held in Baku, Azerbaijan. Kim is

also a member of the FIVB Athletes’ Commission.

XUE CHEN CHINA

KIM YEON-KOUNG SOUTH KOREA

Stefanie Schwaiger will also be hoping to get the

Austrian crowd onside at the exhibition event in

PyeongChang. Having represented her country

in beach volleyball at back-to-back Olympic

Games (2008, 2012), Schwaiger became a home-

nation favourite when she and her elder sister

Doris won the 2013 European Championships in

Klagenfurt, Austria.

STEFANIE SCHWAIGER AUSTRIA


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Though people all over the world have been

playing volleyball in the snow for many years,

the adventure to formalise snow volleyball

as a sport began in 2008, in the mountains of

Wagrain, Austria. For the first time in the history

of this winter sports resort, net posts and pitch

lines were dug into the snow at an altitude of

around 1,850m, with Chaka 2 becoming the first

promoter.

On October 16, 2015, at its Congress in Sofia,

Bulgaria, the European Volleyball Confederation

(CEV) confirmed the addition of the new sport

to its official calendar. The first CEV Snow

Volleyball European Tour took place under

the umbrella of the continental confederation

and was held between March and April 2016

with three stops in as many countries (Czech

Republic, Austria and Italy).

The first international snow volleyball

competition outside of Europe took place on

February 12 and 13, 2017, at the Dizin mountain

resort in Iran, 2,650 meters above sea level.

The Iranian national television channel TV3

broadcast the event live, raising the awareness

of the new discipline throughout the country.

In 2017, the FIVB held its inaugural three-day

Volleyball Your Way Snow Festival from March

22-24 at Wagrain-Kleinarl in Austria, followed by

the international Snow Volleyball Goes Europe

professional tournament on March 25-26.

Following the success of the European Tour, the

CEV decided to organise the Snow Volleyball

European Championships in March 2018 for the

first time ever.

The FIVB is also currently developing snow

volleyball by teaming up with existing sports

events to build awareness of the discipline and

create a global movement, built on what has

been put in place already on the European Tour.

Snow volleyball demonstrates the fun, passion and

universality of the sport of volleyball, which is now

accessible all year round, from the summer to the

winter, from the beach to the mountains, indoor and

outdoor. Volleyball any time, any place, anywhere.


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TES Between 2017-2019, the FIVB aims to establish

an eight-year plan and will test rules and

regulations at various demonstration events.

The FIVB vision is to offer opportunities to enjoy

volleyball in all its forms which can unite people

in a peaceful environment, with the goal of

being the number one family sport in the world.

The FIVB and CEV have recognised snow

volleyball as one of their disciplines and the two

organisations hope that all affiliated volleyball

governing bodies will do the same in their

respective countries. This will contribute to

the growth of the sport at the grassroots and

international level.

The goal is to have a full-fledged World

Tour from 2018/2019 season (minimum three

stops within the territory of three different

Confederations), a World Championship in 2020

and a demonstration event at the 2020 Youth

Olympic Games in Lausanne.

One of the goals of the FIVB is to create new

opportunities to attract tourism at prestigious

winter resorts and possibly to partner with

iconic venues and existing sports events as well

as new sponsors.

For the moment, there is no specific uniform

designed for snow volleyball, so various types

of clothing can be observed on the courts. Most

athletes who play snow volleyball are also beach

or indoor volleyball players.

As snow volleyball players, they usually wear

thermal underwear under existing volleyball

uniforms, that consist of synthetic t-shirts and

shorts with some promotional logos. This helps

players keep warm – especially in negative

temperatures – while conveying the image of

volleyball in general to the audience.

Football boots are used when playing snow

volleyball, since they provide a grip on the

snow and prevent the player from sliding when

playing. However, over the next two years the

FIVB and CEV will work with their suppliers

to develop specific equipment and uniforms

for snow volleyball. Snow Volleyball Night is

another opportunity to gather feedback from

experienced, world-class athletes, and find out

more about what is needed to optimise comfort

and performance in winter conditions.

Do snow volleyball players wear special clothes?


• The inaugural CEV Snow Volleyball European Championships will be held in Wagrain-Kleinarl and Flachau

in Austria from March 23 to 25, 2018.

• Over three days of competition, 24 teams from each gender will compete for a top prize of €10,000.

2018 CEV SNOW VOLLEYBALL EUROPEAN TOUR

2018 CEV SNOW VOLLEYBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

2018 CEV SNOW VOLLEYBALL EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

Date Country Venue

12 - 14 January Turkey Erciyes (TUR)

17 - 18 February Italy Roccaraso (ITA)

23 - 25 February Georgia Bakuriani (GEO)

1 - 4 March Turkey Uludag (TUR)

9 - 11 March Slovenia Kranjska Gora (SLO)

16 - 18 March Italy Plan de Corones / Kronplatz (ITA)

Date Country Venue

06 - 07 January Russia Zelenogorsk (RUS)

20 January Austria Zell am See - Kaprun (AUT)

20 - 21 January Armenia Tsaghkadzor (ARM)

20 - 21 January Croatia Platak, Rijeka (CRO)

20 - 21 January Lithuania Jonava Sports & Recreation Center (LTU)

27 - Jan Latvia Sigulda (LAT)

03 - 04 February Ukraine Shostka City (UKR)

09 - 11 February Turkey Artvin (TUR)

09 - 11 February Hungary Epleny Skiarena (HUN)

16 - 18 February Germany Winterberg (GER)

17 - Feb Czech Republic Spindleruv Mlyn (CZE)

18 - Feb Switzerland Engelberg (SUI)

24 - Feb Slovakia Strbske Pleso (SVK)

24 - 25 February Greece Kalavrita Ski resort (GRE)

26 - 27 February Georgia Bakuriani (GEO)

02 - 04 March Norway Gaustadtoppen Skisenter (NOR)

03 - 04 March Slovenia Ziri (SLO)

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PRESSCONTACTS

Communications Department

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: +41 21 345 35 35

www.fivb.com

Communications Department


Telephone: +352 25 46 46 37

www.cev.lu

Mr Wolfgang Eichler

Austria House


Telephone: +43 664 2769084

FIVB press contact

CEV press contact

Onsite press contact

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