TOKYO, March 6, 2006: More than half the teams competing in this year's FIVB Volleyball World Championships intend to hold extended training camps in Japan before official competition gets under way.
Varying in length from 10 days to four days, the camps will allow players to adjust their body clocks and the coaches to finetune their tactics ahead of the women's and men's competitions.
To highlight the interest in the World Championships around Japan, four cities or towns which are not official venues have applied to the organisers for the honour of hosting a training camp.
While some of the teams have been allocated a training base, and others have made their own arrangements directly with clubs or cities, over 20 teams are now being assisted in their preparations by the organising committee. This involves the booking of hotels, domestic transport and training halls.
In the women's event, Turkey will be staying in Nanto City, Toyama Prefecture, and the United States will be hosted by the V.League team Takefuji Bamboo, whose roster includes American star Tayyiba Haneef. Kenya will be in Akita, in northern Japan. This leaves 11 women's teams still to be allocated training bases.
In the men's event, Bulgaria will be staying in Uozu City, also in Toyama Prefecture, while France will be at Wajima City, Ishikawa Prefecture, and Italy at Shinshushin Town, Nagano Prefecture. Nagano, host of the 1998 Winter Olympic Games, has vast experience of international sports events, and staged the first two days of the FIVB World Grand Champions Cup men's competition at the Nagano All-Round Sports Arena Mashima (Nagano White Ring) last November. The White Ring will be used for the men's World Championship Pool C matches.
As in the women's event, 11 other men's teams are now being assisted by the organising committee.
The 10 host cities for the October 31-December 3 World Championships range from Sapporo in Hokkaido -- the northernmost of Japan's four main islands -- to Fukuoka in Kyushu.
