Belgrade, Serbia, January 31, 2020. On Friday, CEV President Aleksandar Boričić had the pleasure of holding cordial talks with the newly elected President of the Malta Volleyball Association (MVA), Mr Edward Gatt and the MVA Vice-President, Mr Branko Vlahović, at the CEV President Office in Belgrade.

It was a truly precious opportunity to strengthen the cooperation with the highest authorities from the Mediterranean archipelago, in particular due to the problems Malta has experienced for a while, especially in terms of lack of Volleyball activities. With the help of their new leadership, the Malta Volleyball Association have drafted ambitious plans to initiate a number of projects and activities, especially the CEV School Project, with a focus on the further development of Volleyball in schools.

The MVA wish to work closely with younger coaches and physical education teachers, and the development of Beach Volleyball stands out as the most important part of their planned activities. This should also involve gradual involvement and participation in international events, while the organisation of some Beach Volleyball tournaments and age-group events is well under consideration too.

President Gatt expressed his gratitude for the meeting hosted by the CEV President, for the time spent in good and fruitful talks and said he very much looks forward to strengthening the cooperation with the CEV even further in the near future.

CEV and the Malta Volleyball Association wish to work together not only on the promotion of international cooperation, but also to make sure that the support provided by government, regional and local authorities can help grow Volleyball in Malta at a much faster pace than it has happened this far.

Article originally appeared on the website of the European Volleyball Federation – View Original Article

Swieqi Phoenix Yobetit win the Preseason Tournament without losing a single set and getting a perfect score of ’12’. Fleur-de-Lys are the Runners Up with a score of ‘9’ and Paola follow with a point score of ‘6’.

Well Done to all the Players during this Preseason Tournament.

The Winners of the Pre-Season Tournament Celebrate their Deserved Trophy

Pls note that the games held on 28-09-2019 and 29-09-2019 will be held at De La Salle College instead of Cottonera Sports Complex.

The Malta Volleyball Association is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Goffredo Guazzoni as assistant coach to our Technical Director Edvaldo Carvalho Da Silva for both the senior national team and the Under 23 YDTP.

Goffredo is a qualified FIPAV coach and over the past 10 years has coached several teams in Italy and Malta including Valletta Mapei, Toyota Playvolley, Pallavolo Sestese and AP Castellettese.

We are confident that his involvement in the national teams and YDTP will be positive to the teams and to players individually.

MVA’s President Jesmond Saliba thanked Mr. Dalton Caruana for his sterling work and tireless dedication towards the coaching aspect of the senior national team in its journey towards the last GSSE Games. He also expressed his gratitude to Mr. Leonard Zammit Munro for his energy and commitment in the assistance at coaching level of the YDTP players. Leonard will continue to coordinate the YTDP programme, in line with his role in Youth Development which he has been successfully fulfilling within the MVA.

Another volleyball season has come to an end, and with it, the evaluation period every club and team goes through when assessing the performance throughout that season. No less than 157 matches were played between September and April, with honours being awarded in 11 different competitions. As is customary, the Fr. Tony Parnis National Cup will close off the season in the coming weekends. For four particular clubs, this season has been a season full of successes, and whilst for some teams these were a repeat of last season’s successes, for one other it was completely the first time.

Sliema Wanderers managed to etch their club’s name for the first time ever when they managed to win the Ladies’ First Division League, after the Runners’ Up position they obtained last year. Sliema had to overcome the fierce opposition put forward by Swieqi Phoenix, even if the latter never managed to beat the Wanderers in the three league matches this year. However, Sliema’s defeat at the hands of Fleur de Lys 2 at the beginning of the season meant that this particular division remained tight till the very end, with only one point separating Sliema from Swieqi before the last match of the season. However, Sliema won 3-1 to make sure that this year they became the 1 st Division Champions for the first time.

On their part, Swieqi Phoenix had a string of successes in the Youth Categories, and for the second year running, they managed to win all three age group competitions organised by the Malta Volleyball Association. Swieqi Phoenix’s domination in these three competitions was a total one, when they not only won the three categories without losing a match, but they did this without even losing one set. Balzan Flyers, Paola and Sliema Wanderers shared the Runners’ up position in the U/18, U/16 and U/14 categories respectively.

Balzan Flyers was once again the prevailing side in the Ladies’ Seniors Competitions, winning all trophies except the season opening Super Cup, which it lost against Fleur de Lys. However, after winning the John Bugeja Tournament and the Christmas Cup, Balzan managed to repeat last year’s success and win the Ladies’ Super League, remaining unbeaten till the end of the season. The girls in pink were the most consistent throughout the season, with only Fleur de Lys and Paola managing to push them to their limits in some of the matches. However, these last two lacked consistency during parts of the season, whilst Balzan Flyers kept marching ahead towards their second league title in a row.

In the Men’s competitions, Valletta Mapei continued where they left in 2015-2016, winning all the competitions at stake. Their main opponents, Fleur de Lys, lost some precious points against  Aloysians and against the same Valletta in the crucial part of the season, thus not managing to produce an effective claim to the title. Valletta’s dominance was evident throughout the whole season, winning the John Bugeja Tournament and the Super Cup at the beginning of the season, and culminating in the Super League success.

Swieqi Phoenix A – Under 18 Champions 2016-17

Swieqi Phoenix Under 16 Champions 2016-17

Swieqi Phoenix Under 14 Champions 2016-17

Sliema Wanderers 1st Divsion Champions 2016-17

Balzan Flyers Super League Champions 2016-17

MVA_CEV Press Release

MVA_CEV Press Release_MT

Today an important partnership between Fundación MAPFRE and the Volleyball Malta was signed.

The signing ceremony was held in the presence of H.E. The President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca at San Anton Palace.

Mr Oscar Picazo of Fundación MAPFRE, stated that for this year’s edition of ‘Caqlaq’, Fundación MAPFRE will be teaming up with the Malta Volleyball Association (MVA), which will be implementing the programme on its behalf. Mr Picazo said that both Fundación MAPFRE and the Malta Volleyball Association (MVA) share a concern for the increasing consequences related to the lack of physical exercise, particularly amongst children, and the certainty that in most cases, this is due to a lack of awareness of the positive effects of healthy lifestyle habits, in particular that of regular exercise. Mr Picazo confirmed that both parties “strongly believe that the situation can be greatly improved by encouraging children to participate in activities where they can enjoy physical exercise, including activities within a team sports environment, in a spirit of fun and teamwork.”

As part of the ‘Caqlaq’ programme, the MVA will be conducting a series of visits to primary and secondary schools, and organise events for schoolchildren. The focus of these activities will be to give children exposure to physical activity, within a fun environment, while enabling them to experience aspects of physical activity, such as basic motor skills, agility, movement coordination, and teamwork.

Mr Jesmond Saliba, President of the Malta Volleyball Assocaition said that “The aim is to develop children’s interest in regular physical activity through participation in a sport, at least at a basic level. We also see this as a vehicle for social inclusion through sport, which is an underlying theme of the Maltese Presidency of the EU and something which we, as an Association, strongly believe in. Therefore the theme we will adopt for this year’s ‘Caqlaq’ programme will be ‘Let’s all play!’.”

President Coleiro Preca, thanked Fundacion Mapfre, for their firm Corporate Social Responsibility beliefs which sees them sponsoring the Ċaqlaq programme for the fifth year running.

The President also thanked the Malta Volleyball Association, for partnering in this edition and in the way it embraced its commitment towards society in the field of sport, formation and social inclusion.

The President also said that, initiatives such as this are also an effort to creatively support the work of sports diplomacy, as a means of increasing dialogue and cultural understanding among the diverse communities.

Lastly, President Coleiro Preca stated that these activities continue to raise awareness about the importance of living a healthy lifestyle, thus maintaining the wellbeing of the individual, of the family, and of the community.

Press Release By DOI

Caqlaq Press Release