NMIVA Secretary Amie McRoberts attended the World Congress at Forte Village Resort in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy from Oct. 29 to Nov. 2.

In an email interview, McRoberts said that going to the World Congress to represent NMVA was a humbling experience to say the least.

AMIE MCROBERTS

“It’s a little scary that NMIVA is being looked at as the shining example of what a Category 1 nation national federation can become,” she said.

The members of the Oceania Zonal Volleyball Association which also held a meeting on the second day have asked if NMIVA president Laurie Peterka would be willing to accept a nomination for the OZVA board.

The greatest surprise that came in the World Congress, McRoberts said “was to see that the work NMIVA has done these past two years with the OZVA and the Asian Volleyball Confederation in terms of pushing for greater financial opportunities for support have begun to pay off.

For the first time ever, she said NMIVA will be able to offer grant opportunities for equipment and programs in CNMI.

McRoberts is grateful to the funds being made available to NMIVA which is currently preparing application forms asking the schools and groups to prepare prioritized wish lists and submit them to NMIVA.

“While these initial grants are small, the wish lists will provide NMIVA a good gauge on what goals we need to set based on community desire and participation. So maybe in this first year, we will only be able to give a handful of wishes away, but we will also be able to ask for more assistance as we learn what we need,” McRoberts said.

The best Congress ever

FIVB Website reported that in his closing remarks FIVB President Dr. Ary S.Graça said, “This was the best Congress ever. I have never seen such participation from the participants. This has stimulated the debate.”

“We have profited a lot from this because we must know what people think. When you ask, it’s important for us to listen because we are learning. One thing is clear, you can ask anything,”

“We are trying to do our best,” he added.

Days of hard work

Along with representatives of 209 other countries, McRoberts sat at the Congress and worked hard at daily meetings that started at 7 a.m. The first day was a workshop for Category 1 and 2 national federations, such as the CNMI.

In the morning of the second day, OZVA held its general membership meeting. OZVA is one of several subzones of AVC. It consists of 23 member countries.

NMIVA reports to OZVA and is subcategorized in the western Pacific region.

In the meeting, OZVA reviewed its newly drafted region-wide development plan, which NMIVA helped structure.

“It’s great that the majority of the members agreed, because this gives the region cooperative goals and basic strategic templates to work from. There is still further policy development to be completed, but the initial direction is now set by this framework. It’s an exciting step for our region,” McRoberts said.

During the third and fourth days of the Congress, McRoberts said they reviewed and voted on changes to rules as recommended by board of administration. One of this brings back the “no net touch” rule starting January 2015. They also decided on future sponsors and events.