Volleyball Nations League 2021

Yesterday afternoon the Volleyball Nations League 2021 officially ended in Rimini. After the beautiful final on Friday night between the women’s national teams of the United States and Brazil, which saw the triumph of the Americans, yesterday it was the turn of the men of Brazil and Poland, who faced blow for blow, giving us a spectacular match that ended with the victory of the Brazilians! The third place of the women’s championship goes to Turkey, which has defeated Japan, while the French men’s national team has torn bronze to the Slovenians after a match that was nothing short of exciting.

This year’s edition was different from the usual in many respects. The organizers, in fact, had to deal with the pandemic emergency because of which last year they were forced to cancel the event. The wait, for this tournament was a lot, but so were the attention and the pressure from the national and international institutions, so that everything would take place in complete safety.

In this regard, they set up a safety protocol, to which everyone had to scrupulously adhered! The athletes had to remain inside a secure bubble for the entire duration of the event; in practice they could only move from the Hotel to the Palace and vice versa. Every national had its own bus, with a dedicated driver.

A Virtual Mix Zone was created to allow the media to interact and communicate with players in total security: Furthermore organizers opened a digital platform, through which it was possible to accredit to attend press conferences. In addition to this, the media could (upon notification of credits to Volleyball World) use the photographic material available in photo galleries on the VNL website for editorial articles or posts on social media.

Access to the Arena was forbidden to anyone, except for technical personnel directly involved in the organization, after ascertaining the negativity in Sars-Cov2, through a double swab (rapid and molecular). The double swab had to be done only for the first access and gave right to remain in the bubble for three days. On the fourth day, a quick swab was needed again. This procedure applied to everyone, including players.

For our part, to minimize the risk of unforeseen events (which we know are never lacking), we underwent a quick swab even 48 hours before the start of the event and we did the same to all our drivers.

We could not afford any mistakes, because the eyes of the whole world were on this event. VNL 2021 was the first international event of the season since the outbreak of the pandemic. In addition to Italy, six other countries had applied to host it and the fact that in the end the choice fell on Rimini, says a lot about the reputation and professionalism of which we enjoy internationally. The choice depended on various factors, including the quality of the facilities, the organizational experience and the ability to manage the event in total safety.

The management was entrusted to RCS Sports & Events, a company with 30 years of experience in the organization of sports events of the highest importance, such as the Giro d'Italia and the Milan and Abu Dhabi marathons, just to name a few! They were supported by La7, as official broadcaster of the event, ENIT - National Tourism Agency and the Emilia-Romagna Region as national partners, Magniflex (national sponsor), Nescafé LATTE (National Partner), BPER Banca (Official Bank), Toyota (Mobility Partner), FNM (National Supplier), Busforfun (National Supplier) and Visit Italy Web Radio (Official Web Radio).

Reading our brand, near to the brands of actors of that caliber was exhilarating and rewarded us for all the sacrifices and hard work of these months. The organizers have entrusted us with a huge responsibility: managing the mobility of the event at 360 degrees, ensuring maximum punctuality and safety! To best perform this task, we have involved some of our trusted partners from all over Italy, inviting them to mobilize their best means from the point of view of comfort and efficiency. In doing so, in addition to offering a safe, professional and reliable service, we have minimized the environmental impact related to CO2 emissions, contributing to the sustainability of the event. In addition to managing mobility, our team has worked in synergy with communication managers, to give maximum visibility to the initiative, sharing and relaunching all major updates.

Returning to the news of the edition of VNL 2021, we have to mention the introduction of the round robin formula. How does it work?! The preliminary phase included a single round of Italian football, in which each team played 15 games, facing all the others. The semifinals were held, then, among the 4 best teams (instead of 6 as usual). Finally, the two winners of the semifinals faced each other for the final title, while the two losers contested the third place on the podium!

Therefore, it took 248 games to establish the champions. The level of play was very high and watching the matches was very exciting.

Equally exciting was watching players proudly join the "Equal Jersey" campaign launched by "Volleyball World". This year, the world of volleyball has sent a clear and eloquent message to the whole world: gender equality must become something real and concrete as soon as possible! To do this, players and players who share the same jersey number wore a special edition uniform, with their own name and that of a player of the opposite genre. It all happened during the finals, at the height of public and media attention to the tournament! The aim was to promote a serious reflection on the importance of equal conditions, inviting the world of sport (and not), to correct all gender inequalities. What better opportunity to promote a topic as important as delicate!?

In short, there have been so many new things this year and living them in first person was nothing short of uplifting. Sport has a very important social role, which goes far beyond mere competitions. "At the basis of success, in sport as in life, there is commitment, continuous training and teamwork, values in which we have always believed", as rightly pointed out by Luca, our co-founder. "The challenge to promote and spread the MAAC (Mobility As A Community), which means providing shared and sustainable mobility solutions to companies and sports communities, is one of our corporate missions and it is in this perspective that we immediately joined this initiative," said Davide, our other co-founder.

After the success of the Alpine Ski World Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo, today we can celebrate another international event managed impeccably!

#Wethesport #VNL2021 #Bepartofthegame