Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 10,2016 - The FIVB today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the International Military Sports Council (CISM) facilitating a four-year collaboration between the two organisations with the overall objective to promote volleyball within militaries around the world.
FIVB President Dr. Ary S. Graça welcomed the CISM delegation led by the CISM President Colonel AbdulHakeem Hakeem Al Shino and Secretary General Dorah Mamby Koita to the signing ceremony at the FIVB Volleyball House just in front of the iconic Copacabana Beach.
CISM is an international sports association composed of Armed Forces of member nations officially recognised by the United Nations. Its remit is to promote sport activity and physical education between the armed forces as a means to foster world peace.
The MoU, which will last until December 2020, highlights volleyball’s position as a universal sport that can be played by everyone, at every time, everywhere.
FIVB President Dr. Ary S. Graça said: “It is a huge honour to sign this MoU with a fantastic organisation that I feel very passionately about. The CISM is committed to fostering world peace and volleyball truly is the sport of peace, uniting all ages, genders, nationalities and ethnicities and I am looking forward to four years of exciting collaboration.”
The main aims of the MoU are:
• The promotion of volleyball sports practice amid all military sportsmen either professional or amateurs;
• The development of volleyball sports practice by military women;
• The establishment of true complementarities in the sports field between both institutions;
• The search for harmony between the strategies driven by the CISM Leaders and those by FIVB Leaders;
• The establishment of educative actions to preserve sports against the dangers of doping and violence;
• The qualification of coaches and referees through the courses organized by the FIVB and National Federations.
Meanwhile, President Graça met with Mikasa President Yuji Saeki and General Manager Daisuke Akiyama earlier in the day at the Volleyball House. Mikasa have been ball providers to the FIVB since volleyball first appeared on the Olympic programme at the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games. Discussions centred on plans for the next Olympic cycle leading up to Tokyo 2020.
The Luxembourg National Olympic Committee President André Hoffmann and Secretary General Daniel Dax and the Luxembourg Minister of Sport Romain Schneider were also welcomed at the Volleyball House today by President Graça to discuss how volleyball can be used as a tool for social development and how the FIVB plans to make volleyball the number one family sport entertainment in the world.