Thanks to Grant, USAV Beach ParaVolley to be Based in Florida

EUSTIS, Fla. (Jan. 18, 2021) – The Florida Region of USA Volleyball has announced a $100,000 private donation from the Norelli Family Foundation to support USAV Beach ParaVolley (BPV) programming at Hickory Point Beach in Tavares, Fla., for the 2021‐2024 quad.

Additionally, Hickory Point Beach (HPB) will become a National Training Site for the USA Volleyball BPV program.

Beach ParaVolley is an emerging sport as recognized by World ParaVolley (WPV). WPV is recognized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) as the sole International Federation responsible for all forms of volleyball for persons with a physical impairment. BPV consists of three member teams and works within the Paralympic classification system.

In 2019, USA Volleyball announced that they would become the National Federation for the sport of BPV in the United State.

Later in 2019, the inaugural USA BPV teams medaled at the WPV World Championships event in Pingtan, China. The U.S. men earned the gold medal, and the U.S. women took silver in their first international competition. The two teams hold the No. 1 and No. 2 BPV world ranking, respectively.

“The growth of Beach ParaVolley is a huge priority for USAV as this new discipline expands globally,” said USA Volleyball President and CEO Jamie Davis. As the U.S. National Federation for BPV, our goal is to provide state of the art facilities where our athletes can train in their pursuit for gold. We are grateful to the Florida Region and the Norelli Family Foundation for their generous support in helping our athletes achieve their dreams.”

Norelli Family Foundation (NFF) will provide the grant money for the USAV Beach ParaVolley program.

NFF has supported the Florida Region of USAV scholarship program since 2015 and provides four-year scholarships and matching dollars for numerous private scholarships for high school seniors each year.

Since coming alongside the Florida Region, the NFF has generously provided almost $300,000 in scholarship funds.

“We are honored to support this worthy cause and provide some seed funding for the USAV BPV program,” said Joe Norelli, president of the Norelli Family Foundation,

“In November of 2020, I had the privilege of watching the [BPV] athletes train and compete at the Florida Pro Best of the Beach event and was impressed with their determination and dedication to the sport. With a first‐class venue like HPB and some additional BPV program funding, I look forward to seeing Team USA become a world‐leader in this sport.”

Florida Region President Steve Bishop added, “This is great news for Hickory Point Beach and for the sport of volleyball.  We are blessed to have the Norelli Family on our team and now their generosity will be extended to another part of our extended volleyball family with the support of USAV Beach ParaVolley.  I anticipate that this will open doors for us to host international beach volleyball events as BPV moves toward consideration for the 2028 Paralympic Games in Los Angeles.  We look forward to this upcoming quad and sharing more exciting news as other opportunities develop.”

For more information, visit FloridaVolleyball.org