Tokyo, August 3, 2006 -- Preparations for the FIVB World Championships took another big step forward with a series of clinics in the 10 host cities.
A team of 11 from the World Championships head office and from the Japan Volleyball Association put around 2,000 staff through their paces during the 10-day tour, covering all aspects of administration, protocol and tournament organisation.
"Everyone who attended the clinics was very cooperative and understood all the tasks they needed to do," said Katsumi Wakao, Executive Tournament Director.
"A minimum of 150 people were present at each site, and more than 200 in Osaka and Tokyo, where the finals of the women's and men's championships will take place.
"Every site had prepared two teams from universities, high schools or clubs to stage a match, so we were able to test every aspect of the tournament, such as the flag-carriers, announcers, scorers, ball retrievers, court moppers and line judges."
Starting in Hiroshima, the workshops continued in Fukuoka, Kobe, Osaka, Nagoya, Tokyo, Sendai, Sapporo and Saitama before finishing in Nagano.
"It was 10 cities in 10 days, with the mornings reserved for travel and then five hours for the clinics at each venue," added Mr Wakao.
"We started with a general introduction and then broke up into separate groups to talk about specific details, including how to organise the transportation, accommodation, interpreters, liaison officers, press facilities and decorations inside and outside the competition hall.
"Another important part was the clinic for referees and VIS staff to compile the skill statistics and for communication."
Although most of the venues already had experience of staging international volleyball events, the World Championships organising committee prepared them by publishing a 220-page guidebook. The heads of the various departments were then responsible for relaying the relevant information to their own teams of workers.
"Most of the leaders have had a lot of experience, and the younger helpers had watched volleyball on television or in the stadiums so were familiar with their duties," said Mr Wakao.
"We concluded every clinic with a question and answer session to clear up any details, and overall we feel everything was very successful. Everyone understands what they need to do when the World Championships come to their city."
