Announcements

On Thursday, February 9 Triangle Volleyball Club announced its 2012 ‘Volleyball for All’ theme for the Mid Atlantic Power League [MAPL] tournament to be held at the Raleigh Convention Center [RCC] March 10-11. The MAPL Raleigh tournament will host 108 elite girls’ volleyball teams from New York to Georgia on 22 courts at the RCC. MAPL’s ‘Volleyball for All’ theme, sponsored by Red Hat and Triangle Volleyball Club, will expose over 3000 student athletes, parents, and spectators to sitting volleyball and other adaptive sports suitable for those with physical limitations.

Triangle Volleyball Club has partnered with Bridge II Sports, a paralympic sport club based in Durham, NC, to help promote sitting volleyball throughout the Triangle Area. Bridge II Sports will be hosting an adaptive sport expo at MAPL Raleigh offering hands-on demonstrations of various adaptive sports including basketball, fencing, goal ball [for the blind], hand cycling, kayaking, and tennis.

The USA and Netherlands Women’s Paralympic Volleyball teams will be competing in four exhibition matches on MAPL Raleigh’s sitting volleyball center court at the RCC throughout the tournament weekend. Both teams will be competing in London at the 2012 Paralympic Games this summer. Following competition members of Team USA and Team Netherlands will participate in autograph sessions. Exhibition matches are open to the public with plenty of spectator seating provided.

MAPL Raleigh’s ‘Volleyball for All’ theme includes classroom and on-court coaching and skills clinics hosted by John Kessel, Managing Director of Region Services of USA Volleyball. In addition, Kessel will host a youth clinic at Watts Elementary School in Durham and speak to the Triangle Amputee Support Group at Duke University Hospital. Ashley Thomas, Executive Director, Bridge II Sports, will host a seminar on how to recruit disabled athletes. Participants and spectators at MAPL Raleigh will have the opportunity to enjoy and participate in sitting volleyball matches featuring college mascots, collegiate volleyball athletes, middle and elementary school youth, and club volleyball teams from the Triangle area.

“The ‘Volleyball for All’ theme is intended to increase awareness of and promote sitting volleyball and adaptive sports. Volleyball in North Carolina has been growing exponentially over the past years – it is time that we start to grow volleyball and adaptive sports for those with physical differences. We began open sitting volleyball training sessions at Triangle’s gym this year and are hoping that after this event other clubs in the area will be inspired to do the same” said Jenna Hinton, Assistant Director and Sitting Volleyball Coordinator at Triangle Volleyball Club.

‘Volleyball for All’ events will begin Friday, March 9 and conclude on Sunday, March 11. A full schedule and information on admission for each event can be found here.