Open letter to Beach Volleyball players and National Federations

5/6/2009

 Brazilian Volleyball Federation and South American Confederation President Ary Graça met with player representatives here on the sidelines of the opening 2009 SWATCH FIVB World Tour event last month. After fruitful discussions aimed at encouraging increased communication and mutually beneficial progress in the future, Graça issued a communiqué to all FIVB players and National Federations. 

To all FIVB players and National Federations At the first SWATCH FIVB World Tour Event in Brasilia this past weekend I had an opportunity to meet for the first time with player representatives Ana Paula Connelly and Sascha Heyer as well as Todd Rogers and Christoph Dieckman. Also present in support of the new direction of Beach Volleyball at the FIVB were Beach Volleyball Commission members Sinjin Smith and Tulio Teixeira.

This was the first of many meetings where the players will have an opportunity to speak directly with me to discuss the important issues directly affecting the players and the sport.

The two main words of the Beach Volleyball administration of the FIVB President Jizhong Wei, myself and the President of the Portuguese Volleyball Federation Vicente Araujo will be DEMOCRACY and TRANSPARENCY.

I wanted the players to get to know me and feel comfortable with who I am and what my ideas are for the future of the sport. I was a National Team player and now I am the President of the Brazilian Volleyball Federation and the South American Confederation as well as being a successful businessman in Brazil.

President Wei has put me in charge of Beach Volleyball with the help of Vicente Araujo. There must be changes made in the overall structure of Beach Volleyball at the FIVB which will make everything much more transparent and friendly and open for growth opportunities.

Two issues that the players wanted to discuss immediately were Olympic Qualification and the Bonus Pool regulations. The players concerns were legitimate and with further input from players and National Federations in the following weeks, we should be able to come up with solutions that protect everyone's interests.

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