Cala Saona to be scene of first international beach volleyball tournament

Earlier today, the Formentera Council’s Office of Sport announced the details concerning its first ever world amateur beach volleyball tournament, set to take place this Saturday on the Cala Saona beach at 12 noon. The CiF councillors in attendance at the morning press conference were Jordi Vidal, of the sports office, and Alejandra Ferrer, of tourism. Also present were two former players from the Spanish national volleyball team: Rafa Pascual and Ernesto Rodríguez, who is organising Saturday’s event.

The tournament will take place all weekend at Cala Saona beach, though one modality –four on four– will be at the centre of a championship that starts today and culminates in a final match at 5.00pm. As Councillor Vidal explained this morning, Maurizia Cacciatore will be the guest of honour at this weekend’s events. Ms Cacciatore, as Vidal noted, is considered by many to be the greatest player Italian volleyball has ever known. The councillor took the opportunity to urge the entire island to come out and “enjoy the waterfront show”.

The matches on Saturday and Sunday will be open to teams of two, in men’s and women’s categories. Morning games will start at 9.30am and recommence at 3.30pm. There will be eight playing areas and 40 participating teams. Sportsdreams is the company that, together with the Formentera Council, has coordinated the event.

Tourism

Councillor Ferrer explained that the tournament is part of Discover Formentera in May (Descobreix Formentera al Maig), a campaign to “expand the traditional season by proposing sports-related activities and other bonuses to off-season tourists”. Pointing to the sport’s popularity among Formentera’s Italian visitors, Ferrer said the Council hoped to entice tourists outside of the traditional summer season.