The Central Volleyball Association League gets underway on 22 March and concludes at the end of August.
While the league initially had a longer planned run, it has been shortened to accommodate other major volleyball events, including the DTS Volleyball for All tournament.
Speaking to Desert FM recently, Sampapi explained that given volleyball’s relatively small fan base, running multiple events at the same time at different locations is not sustainable.
“Volleyball is a sport with a very small fan base. So we can’t really have two volleyball events at separate locations. So, we have to shorten our league just to accommodate the beach volleyball leagues,” she said.
Last year, the Central Volleyball Association (CVA) League winners from both the male and female categories made it to the National Volleyball League after winning the Namibia Volleyball Federation Cup.
Funding remains a significant challenge for the CVA, as it primarily relies on team registration fees. Sampapi acknowledged that the prize money for winners is currently low, but emphasised ongoing efforts to secure corporate sponsorships to improve the financial incentives for teams.
“Funds are what we always struggle with. But we’re working hard to get sponsors to come on board so they can help us out a little bit and increase our winning prizes, since it’s a bit too low,” said Sampapi.
Another issue faced by the association is the lack of dedicated volleyball facilities. At present, league matches traditionally take place at the University of Namibia Gym Hall or the Khomas NamPol Hall.
Limited resources have prevented CVA from utilising the high-quality courts at the Windhoek Showgrounds for its league matches.
Sampapi hopes that securing sponsorships will allow the league to use the venue more frequently in the future.
“With the national league, we use [the] showgrounds. But for central volleyball, we didn’t use it last year,” Sampapi said. The three courts at the showgrounds are lit, allowing for evening matches.
“It’s a bit difficult to pay for that venue but we are hoping to get sponsorship on board, so we can maybe use it twice or three times,” she said.
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