7,000 players traveled to Kuopio, Finland to participate in the world’s largest outdoor youth volleyball competition. Members of the Finnish men’s volleyball national team were also present, giving the opportunity for fans to bond and take pictures. In order to organize all the matches efficiently, electronic score sheets were used, with scorers using their mobile phones or tablets for keeping track of the results. This made it possible to use live score of the matches on the web and it sped up the result service provided for as many as 4,500 matches.
All in all, here are the impressive numbers of the tournament:
- 7,000 participants
- 841 teams
- 35 foreign teams from Estonia, Latvia and Norway
- 22 competitions from 7 to 21-year-old boys and girls
- 4,500 matches
- 251 outdoor courts (on sand, grass and artificial grass)
- 15 schools used for accommodation
- 100,000 portions of food (breakfast, lunch, dinner, evening snack)
- Besides volleyball, the event held many activities for the youth involved, such as concerts and disco night.
Although by no means a volleyball powerhouse, its women’s national team being ranked 79th in the world while the men are ranked 18th, it’s safe to say that this kind of youth-centered event raises the country’s population awareness towards volleyball and goes directly en route with FIVB’s main goal in turning volleyball into the #1 family sporting activity in the world.
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