Volleyball 2020: Not all hope is lost despite lockdown

Hadija Namanda

What you need to know:

  • As the lockdown continues to ease, we believe that sports will be next on the agenda to be given the green flag. Our duty as the volleyball fraternity and sports in general is to ensure that safety comes first.

To date, the return to Normalcy for the sporting world is still in limbo. These are trying times for us all. Covid-19 has altered our lives as citizens. The changes associated with the current pandemic have presented sport with many challenges and opportunities related to sport performance, physical activity and health.

In Uganda, many federations were just rolling their programmes on their calendars for the year when the pandemic struck. For Uganda Volleyball Federation (UVF), the National Women’s Beach Volleyball team had participated in the Olympic qualifers in Dar es Salaam; Tanzania in January and had sailed through to the second round.
Uganda hosted the second round in March with Egypt, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Guinea Conakry and Uganda taking part.

An FIVB level 1 course was concluded just before the lockdown took effect. Uganda, Kenya and South Sudan coaches successfully completed the course. Affected programmes for March to date include a CAVB national referee’s course that had over 80 referees in the region registered to take part.
Others affected are the National league, Open tournaments, international championships, CAVB Africa Club championships (Men and Women) and national championships (Seniorand junior).
UVF was set to host the U-21 girls African Championship in October but the event was postponed to December by the CAVB as the Boys U-21, was also postponed in Egypt.
Uganda was also planning to host the Zone 5 men and Women’s club championship end of November this year.

Our professional players in Rwanda, Kenya, Dubai and Korea; were also set for a great season with their teams.
Not all hope is lost yet. The volleyball fraternity was encouraged to keep healthy and stay fit by following the regulations set. A series of webinars addressing different topics are being organised nationally and by the CAVB, our continental body to embrace the new digital era.

The National Council of Sports (NCS) together with to all recognised federations are working to develop SOPs to guide sports after the lockdown.
All efforts are being made by the NCS to government to ensure that sports can return at the earliest.
As the lockdown continues to ease, we believe that sports will be next on the agenda to be given the green flag. Our duty as the volleyball fraternity and sports in general is to ensure that safety comes first.

All the different stakeholders have to play their part so that we transit back to normal in the safest way as guided by the Ministry of Health and the president The Executive and Board together with the Tournament organisers and clubs/team will work together to reschedule affected events of the 2020 calendar.
The Federation is also working on switching the season to align with the FIVB volleyball season effective September/October 2020 as was proposed in the 2020 Congress.