Colombia's women's volleyball revolution sparked by Volleyball Empowerment

Sunday 19 September 2021 marks the date of Colombia’s women's volleyball revolution as the team made history by defeating the mighty Brazil 3-1 in Barrancabermeja, Colombia. The victory classified the team for the World Championship 2022 for the first time and wrote its name in the volleyball elite. It was the result of hard work and planning made possible by the FIVB’s Volleyball Empowerment programme.

The team’s success can be traced back to 2017, when the Colombian Volleyball Federation hired Brazilian coach Antonio Rizola to lead the transformation of Colombian volleyball.

This was further bolstered in 2020 when, under the FIVB’s revolutionary programme of Volleyball Empowerment, the Colombian Volleyball Federation received two years of coach support. A total of 72,000 CHF has been invested in Colombian volleyball with the aim of helping the national women’s team reach its full potential.

Head Coach Rizola had an extensive background in coaching, having previously worked with the Brazil women’s, men’s, U20 and U18 national volleyball teams.

Thinking ahead, Rizola immediately set to work preparing the U18 team for the Pan American Cup. At the end of three months, Rizola and the players flew to Cuba to try to qualify for the U18 Age Group World Championship for the first time. The victory in the final against the Cubans became the first title of Colombian women's volleyball in the category and a trip to the U18 World Championship in Argentina was guaranteed.

Maria Margarita Martinez in action at the FIVB Volleyball World Championship 2022

“In the beginning, when I was playing for the U18 team and Rizola arrived, he asked us if we believed it was possible to win a title. We replied that it was very difficult. He said if we thought like that he was wasting his time because he worked to win. That answer came as a shock to us. From there we began to change our mentality. We trained and sacrificed a lot, but the evolution of our volleyball came through technical, emotional and mental changes,” said the national team spiker Maria Margarita Martinez.

This was just the first step, however, and it was time to mix experience and youth in the senior national team ahead of the South American Championship in Cali, Colombia. The team secured a silver medal for the first time ever after reaching the final against a powerful Brazilian national team side. It was another page of history written in Colombian women’s volleyball, and served as confirmation that the sport’s development was on track.

In 2018, Colombia reached the final of the Central American and Caribbean Games, where they won the silver medal. However, the big goal was to win the South American Games in Cochabamba. With five players from the U18 Pan American Cup victory in the squad, Colombia emerged victorious to claim gold.

“It was the first gold medal I won at the South American Games, it was a very beautiful moment. I will remember that game and how I felt forever,” said, María Alejandra Marín, one of the pillars of the new generation of Colombian volleyball.

The following year, the team participated in the Pan American Cup in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic in their quest to qualify for the Pan American Games. In the semifinals, they triumphed against Argentina, but their victory came amidst great sorrow as Colombian Volleyball Federation President at that time, Carlos Alberto Grisales, passed away. The team went on to overcome Puerto Rico in the final to qualify for the Pan American Games for the first time in history. They dedicated their victory to Grisales.

“Colombian women's volleyball began to take off when the former president Grisales realised that the team was close to the level of our opponents, Peru and Argentina. To achieve this goal it was necessary to have a permanent, international coach and Antonio Rizola arrived to guide our players to fulfill their talent and lead Colombia to become a South American power in women's volleyball,” said Néstor Raúl Useche, the President of the Colombian Volleyball Federation since 2020.

In 2019, the Colombian team reached the podium in all the competitions, and the year was marked by another historical event: for the first time, the Colombian team defeated Brazil. The great victory was in the semifinal of the Pan American Games, in Lima, Peru, where the team lost only to the Dominican Republic. The team’s silver medal performance meant a lot to Colombian fans, and once again the evolution of women's volleyball was exalted and celebrated.

Colombian national team celebrates at the Pan American Games 2019 (Photo credit: Colombian Volleyball Federation}

Qualifying for the World Championship was Colombia's goal in 2022, but by this point the team’s development efforts were being boosted by FIVB Volleyball Empowerment support. For the third time, the team reached the South American Championship final against Brazil in 2021. The victory came in an electrifying 3-1 (25-19, 25-23, 24-26, 25-23) battle. The two teams ended the competition in first position, but Brazil was crowned as champions for having won the most sets.

Coach Rizola celebrates with the Colombian national team players (Photo credit: Colombian Volleyball Federation}

Most importantly, qualification for the FIVB Volleyball World Championship 2022 was guaranteed, another first for Colombian volleyball. Colombia did not win in its World Championship debut, but the team performed well and gained valuable international experience.

It marks six years since Colombia's women's national volleyball team embarked on its remarkable journey, which ignited the passion of fans across the country, and three years since the team’s development was boosted by Volleyball Empowerment. At the beginning of this cycle, Colombia was ranked 26th in the FIVB World Ranking. By 2022, the team had climbed to 16th, and as of today, they are ranked 19th and have secured a place at this year’s FIVB Road to Paris 2024 Olympic Volleyball Qualifier.