FIVB Volleyball Empowerment continues to elevate beach volleyball in Scotland

The Scottish Volleyball Association is dedicated to increasing the level of its national beach volleyball teams with support from the revolutionary FIVB Volleyball Empowerment programme, which aims to help national teams reach their full potential.

The FIVB approved six months of coach support for the Scottish men’s and women’s beach volleyball in 2021 and 2022. As part of the project, Canadian Head Coach Felipe Humana-Paredes was appointed to help lead the beach volleyball programme and create a professional environment with a culture of excellence.

Head Coach Felipe Humana-Paredes with coaches Colin Paterson and Jack McKeown

FIVB President Dr Ary S. Graça F° said:

“The FIVB is committed to improving the level of volleyball and beach volleyball throughout the world by investing the money that comes from the sport back into the sport. Beach volleyball is for everyone, and we are proud to support the Scottish Volleyball Association as it invests in long-term high-performance beach volleyball programmes.

“We have been delighted to see young Scottish athletes competing at CEV events and look forward to seeing their development into the next generation of senior men’s and women’s beach volleyball teams.”

Scottish beach volleyball duo Mel Coutts and Lynne Beattie training ahead of Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures event in Ios, Greece

Scottish Volleyball Association CEO Margaret Ann Fleming MBE said:

“The FIVB Volleyball Empowerment programme has benefitted Scottish Volleyball immensely right from the beginning. Bringing in Felipe Humana-Paredes has jump-started our programme and gives us a good chance of achieving our short-term goal of a top-five finish at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games later this month.

“With a clear pathway from development to performance now in place, we are also able to target entering a men’s and women’s team into the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour and a podium finish at the Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games as long-term goals.”

In addition to coach support, the Scottish Volleyball Association have been investing in sending its young athletes to age-group European Volleyball Confederation (CEV) Championships with Head Coach Humana-Paredes, enabling them to gain more international experience.

Head Coach Humana-Paredes said:

“The FIVB Volleyball Empowerment programme has created an amazing, collaborative opportunity between myself and Scottish Volleyball to take high-performance beach volleyball to the next level. The additional funding has already opened the doors to give our athletes more opportunities to compete on the Beach Pro Tour, and some of our youth athletes have also gained valuable experience at U22 and U20 CEV Championships. I've also been very impressed with the organisation and passion of Scottish Volleyball, their support will be essential to really maximise the impact of the FIVB Volleyball Empowerment programme.”