It will be weeks before Easter, but still volleyball will be played in Assen this week during the Easter volleyball tournament. Almost sixty teams from Christian schools and student associations from all over the Netherlands are participating.
The balls fly in all directions in sports hall Olympus of the Dr. Nassau college in Assen. For four days, the more than five hundred players compete here to win the 54th Easter Volleyball Tournament. “We have more registrations than ever. And the teams come from all over, from ‘t Wad to Limburg,” says tournament board member Arjan Elsinga.
Why Easter volleyball while it’s still weeks before Easter? “Yes, I often have to explain that. The tournament originally started during the Easter holidays. But that no longer exists, so we went to spring holidays. But the name Easter has always remained, because it is a household name,” explains Elsinga out.
The tournament is mainly about sports, but certainly also has a social aspect. “It’s all about meeting each other. We think it’s great that as Christians we can experience the tournament among ourselves.” Traditionally, a joint opening takes place in the Kandelaarkerk.
The players aged 13 to 25 will stay with host families this week. And where the well-known Christmas volleyball tournament in Assen eventually died due to a lack of volunteers, that does not seem to be a problem for the organization of this sporting event.
“We have 150 host families. Also this year it was no problem to find them”, Elsinga says happily. “That is also what this tournament is all about: you want to offer everyone a safe home and give them a bit of decent rest.”
However, the decent rest did not quite succeed. For although it is hard to imagine, a great feast was held in this hall last night. Does that party influence the results? “We are not in very good shape, but it is very nice. We have lost everything so far, and we will continue to do so,” says one of the spectators. “We went to bed fairly early every time, so it’s not that,” laughs another.
After today, the group stage is over. Tomorrow it will be really exciting: then it will become clear during the finals who will go home with the win.
Watch here how the Easter volleyball tournament in Assen is going: