The year 2010 could be looked back on as the landmark year for FIVB Development according to FIVB Executive Vice President and FIVB Development Commission President Vicente Araujo. "The FIVB development programme in 2010 has been incredibly successful in terms of providing more growth in the sport of Beach Volleyball and Volleyball around the world," he said. “

 

There has been more investment both financially and with resources so 2010 has the potential to be the year when FIVB Development turned a corner and set the trend for outstanding development achievement. The FIVB invested more in development during 2010 than any other year in its history by allocating more financial resources totaling close to $4m to the FIVB Confederations to help national federations.

 

A new development fund, controlled by the FIVB, was launched working in close collaboration with the IOCs Olympic Solidarity program where all FIVB national federations have the opportunity to propose projects for funding through their NOCs. The Steering Committee, responsible for evaluating and forwarding national federation proposals to the FIVB Executive Committee for a funding decision, evaluated a total of 80 applications at its two day meeting completed in December while also announcing that a total of $3.7m will be available to Confederations and Federations when it comes to budgeting such proposals. “

 

"We are proud to be able to make available to Confederations and Federations such a sum for development. This indicates the reach of the FIVB Development program and the investment the FIVB is putting into Volleyball and Beach Volleyball to ensure it is more accessible for more people," Steering Committee President, FIVB Treasurer and Executive Vice President André Meyer said. Via the Development Fund, the federations now have the tools to grow Volleyball and Beach Volleyball. The FIVB will now assist them to take full advantage for the benefit of athletes right around the world.”

 

Other key projects launched throughout the year to aid development includes the Beach Volleyball Continental Cup, which launched an additional Olympic qualifying process for the Beach Volleyball competition at the 2012 Olympic Games and has seen 153 countries enroll to participate in 62 tournaments around the world. In previous years, the Olympic Games qualifying process was only limited to the FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour. The recently completed Muscat Beach Volleyball Asian Beach Games was another prime example of the growth of Beach Volleyball where 22 of the 43 OCA members took part in the competition involving 32 men's and 20 women's teams, the largest participation in all sports at the Games.