Highlights of SSSVC Rwanda

Watch the highlights of the 2011 Sub-Saharan Sitting Volleyball Qualifier for the Paralympic Games 2012.
This competition, hosted by NPC Rwanda took African sitting volleyball on a new level and showed the world once again that Africa is able to produce elite athletes for international events.

Interview with Muvunyi Hermas Cliff

Go on

and see the whole interview with Muvunyi Hermas Cliff!

Competition reflections from Peter Karreman – our head coach

Hello lovely people from Rwanda and all people from all over the world following the performance of the National Sitting Volleyball team of Rwanda.

 

The players performed at an excellent level and they really put Rwanda on the sitting volleyball map of the world.

First of all because they played very well and they defended the national colors of Rwanda in an extraordinary way.

As head coach I could not have been more proud of them. It was really a great performance where Rwanda can be very proud of. Especially considering that they just have trained for a few weeks and that they had no opportunity to play practice games at the international level.

 

When the team arrived in the USA, they were overwhelmed with all the impressions coming over them. But already in the first practice games against the Netherlands and Serbia, they showed the world that Rwanda has a team that is on his way up.

Because the international level is very high, we did not expect to win many games. Our goal was not to finish at the last position and to win at least one game.

And we did it. We won the game against India by 3-0.

But we did more, because we also won one set from strong teams like Croatia, Morocco and Lybia. And at some moments, we even thought it was possible to get a little bit more. We were very close, but to win a game sounds easier than it is in real live. It was certainly one of our learning moments.

 

The team kept on playing better each game and training. During the week we also trained together with the team of Russia, which is one of the best teams in the world. And training together with some of the best players was very impressive for the Rwanda team and they improved again.

 

And it was not only their improved level of playing. There was also the African spirit they showed to the world. So, they received many compliments and love by the other countries for their achievement and their way of representing themselves.

 

Again, I can’t tell you how proud I am. They really did a great job. And I hope you will receive the team with a warm welcome when they arrive in Rwanda again. 

And I ask all the players to give all (or at least some) of there experience to you. So the sitting volleyball will evolve in your country.

 

I do believe this sport can become one of the biggest games in Rwanda for people with a disability. And if the improvement goes on, you can set the next step on the international level.

 

I thank all the players and staff again. And I wish everybody good luck. Don’t forget to spread your experience.

 

I will be back,

 

Peter Karreman 

Our second and third games

Today Rwanda lost again the match with Brazil 3-0. We also lost our second game to Hungary. We have to play 2 matches tomorrow with Egypt and South Korea at 9h00 and 18h00 local time.

All players are feeling good, the only problem in general here is very hot up to 40 degrees. But this is not the reason for losing. The teams we are playing are far more experienced and in each game we feel we are learning more and improving; this is the first time of participation in such an international competition and we still hope to qualify for London next year through the sub-Saharan championship.

Some more links!

All results, competition schedule and daily bulletins regarding the 2010 Sitting Volleyball World Championships can be found on http://administration.uco.edu/ucowc/worlds/e-info.php as well as on www.npcrwanda.com in the ‘important links’ section.

The results of the first game!

The results of Rwanda’s first game in the 2010 Sitting Volleyball World Championships is as follows:

Set 1: Croatia 25 – Rwanda 20

Set 2: Croatia 21- Rwanda 25

Set 3: Croatia 25 – Rwanda 21

Set 4: Croatia 25 – Rwanda 17

Rwanda are disappointed to have lost the game but were overall happy with the team’s performance.

Next the team will play Hungary before playing Brazil!

Arriving in Oklahoma!

The team arrived safely in Oklahoma after a 24 hour flight!

Two of the team had to catch a different flight as they missed the connection – thankfully the team were all reunited again at Oklahoma airport, together with the team coach, Peter Karreman who was travelling from the Netherlands. When they arrived volunteers were on hand to collect their luggage and transport had been arranged to the University of Central Oklahoma where the competition would be taking place.

The team’s first training session will take place on Friday morning – that will be Friday afternoon Rwandan time! The team are very impressed with the facilities available and are eagerly awaiting the start of the competition!

We are on our way!

Yesterday at 4.15pm the team flew out to the USA! Our concerns over the payment of the participation fees have been resolved and every member of team left with a huge smile of their faces!
The majority of the NPC Rwanda staff and volunteers are part of team and delegation so the office will be very quiet for the next couple of weeks!
We hope to keep this blog as up to date as possible with updates from the championships – we also hope to share with you some photos from the championship.

We hope to fly tomorrow…

NPC Rwanda is optimistic about the team leaving for the USA tomorrow at 4.15pm. We are currently involved in discussions with the Ministry of Sport and Culture regarding the financing of trip and hope everything will be resolved by tomorrow. As a participating country Rwanda needs to pay participation fees for the event and arrange flights, visas and training. We have the tickets and the visas and are now just waiting on the confirmation of the participation fees. Participating in an  international event like this does cost much money and also requires a lot of effort; almost all of the NPC team have been involved in planning for the team’s participation in some way over the previous 6 months.

We hope we will fly tomorrow. We hope we will be able to represent Rwanda and people with disabilities on the world stage.  At the moment we are just anxiously waiting for confirmation – once we hear you will hear about it here first!

The Rwandan National Championship

http://www.npcrwanda.com/Report%203rd%20Phase%20NYANZA_brief.pdf

Each year NPC Rwanda organises a national sitting volleyball/sitball competition. This year the competition consisted of three phases – the first took place in Gisenyi, the second in Huye and the final concluding stage in Nyanza within the grounds of HVP Gatagara.

This years competition proved to a huge success with some exciting matches between highly determined teams and more teams then ever taking part in the competition. The above link will take you to a report on the third and final stage – you can see pictures of matches taking place as well the players and teams that took part.

This competition was exciting for the players but raised awareness of sport for people with disabilities and introduced the sports to new audiences throughout the country. NPC Rwanda currently works with 19 member sports clubs and supports it’s members to organise and partticipate in regular sporting events. Sport for people with disabilities is gaining strength within Rwanda and we are looking forward to the future and the world championship with much enthusiasm.

If you have any questions about sport for people with disabilities, the championship or NPC Rwanda please leave us a comment!!