International Beach Volleyball Championship Underway in Bridlington

The International Youth Beach Volleyball Championships get underway in Bridlington today.

It's a big day of European sport for England, the men's football team are in Euro action later and in Bridlington today it's the start of the International Youth Beach Volleyball Championships.

Teams from eight European nations will be competing.

The England team features a strong showing from players who have trained at Bridlington's Skyball Beach Volleyball Club.

Piotr Makowski is from the club, he has high hopes for the national side.

Bridlington will be staging the North European Volleyball Zonal Association (NEVZA) Youth Beach Volleyball Championships 2024.

It’s the first time that such a high profile international competition has been held on Bridlington beach, and it’s hoped that the crowds will turn out to show their support for the home side and the other competing nations.

Taking place between Tuesday 25 and Thursday 27th June, the event will feature four competitions across two age categories; U18 Girls, U18 Boys, U20 Girls and U20 Boys.

It’s open to all North European Volleyball Zonal Association (NEVZA) member countries, which are Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Greenland and England, and a maximum of 16 teams will be permitted to enter each competition. Teams will initially play in a pool format contest before advancing to a knock-out phase, which means that they will each play at least five matches.

Charlie Ford, Chief Executive Officer of Volleyball England, said:

“We’ve been working hard as an organisation to bring an international beach tournament to England over the past 12 months to 18 months, so we’re thrilled that we’ll be welcoming young players from across the NEVZA region this summer.

“I’m sure our young players will love rubbing shoulders with some of the best emerging talent from overseas, pushing themselves hard to see how they measure up.

“They are also sure to enjoy having the home advantage, which doesn’t happen all that often, so hopefully the crowds can come out to support them, as well as all the countries competing.”

Peter Makowski says anyone can go along and watch over the next three days.

England last hosted a NEVZA event in 2018, when the NEVZA U17 and U19 Championships were held indoors at National Volleyball Centre in Kettering. Before that, the NEVZA Senior Beach Volleyball Championships were held in Bournemouth in 2016.

Simon Dahl, NEVZA’s General secretary, commented:

“We are very happy and grateful to have Volleyball England hosting the NEVZA U20 and U18 Beach Volleyball Championships for boys and girls as the first edition after the Covid-19 Pandemic. I’m sure that our young players are eager to compete for the titles, will value the experience of playing international teams and will bring us exciting matches.”

The event is being hosted with support from Skyball Beach Volleyball Club, which is based in Bridlington, and supported by Visit East Yorkshire. Skyball Beach Volleyball Club regularly hosts UK Beach Tour national volleyball events each summer and will also host the Yorkshire Series and Four-Star Northern Open this year.

Chair of Visit Hull and East Yorkshire’s Advisory Board, Chris Blacksell, who is also a Deputy Lieutenant of the East Riding of Yorkshire, said:

“We are thrilled to welcome such a high profile, international event to East Yorkshire to showcase some of Europe’s elite junior volleyball players. Bringing this event to Bridlington will hopefully help to inspire a new generation of players and supporters, both in the local area and beyond, as well as providing a huge tourism boost to our local businesses.”

For more information about the North European Volleyball Zonal Association (NEVZA) Youth Beach Volleyball Championships 2024, visit: https://www.volleyballengland.org/competitions/nevza-youth-beach-volleyball-championships-2024