Chronicle Editor
Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
WHEN Bulawayo hosted the African Volleyball Confederation (CAVB) Zone VI club championships two years ago, it became clear the sport had the potential to pull crowds.
Multitudes throng the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) daily during the duration of the competition.
Even event organisers were shocked by the impressive fan turn out for the game, which rarely attracts huge crowds.
At that time, Bulawayo Volleyball Association (BVA) chairperson William Mazviro said the tournament had ignited a renewed spark in interest in the sport.
Since then, the BVA has been working towards luring fans, who are critical for marketing purposes.
Mazviro says his association continues to strive towards ensuring that the game becomes a major attraction in Bulawayo.
He said the growth and development of the game has been derailed by four major aspects.
“We continue to work towards the improvement of the game, but some of the challenges we have faced include lack of funding, manpower and resource shortage resulting in few qualified and practising coaches; absence of equipment as well as little work on grassroots development are the major challenges the game has faced over the years,” said Mazviro.
Despite the challenges, the BVA has come up with various projects meant to develop and improve the standards of the game in the city.
The plans have, however, suffered a somewhat stillbirth following the Covid-19 crisis.
In January the BVA enlisted various committees into its structures in a bid to make its brand more marketable and reach out to stakeholders more effectively.
The committees are referee’s commission, players commission, marketing commission, gender commission, coaches and cooperate commissions.
Chief among these is the corporates affairs commission, which will focus on mostly public relations.
For this season, the BVA intends to run three parallel leagues, the junior, corporate and premier league.
“We wanted to do things differently this year. One of our main objectives was the junior league. This one will go a long way in terms of player development.
“The BVA has a good relationship with schools and we want players coming from schools taking part in the sport. That is the only way we can improve the game.
“We also want to start a corporate league, which will be more of a social league. Expectations are that we will have companies taking this one up.
“The association is working around the clock to ensure that we achieve all goals that have been set. We look forward to having a successful season. We also want to take the game to communities and that will be possible if we hold our games perhaps White City Stadium,” he said.
Last year, the league saw an increase in the number of teams competing and the association hopes to build on that.
Mazviro also highlighted the need to ensure the league reaches national and regional standards.
The BVA season was set to get underway on March 21 with the traditional pre-season opener before sporting activities were suspended by Covid-19 enforced lockdown. — @innocentskizoe
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