Being able to organize the World League event alongside the 2012 Canadian Open Volleyball Championship was a huge benefit and opportunity for Volleyball Canada to promote our sport. Coordinating an event that involved close to 700 teams playing over six days on 56 courts was an enormous task, and kudos go out to all those who were involved in this event on the DEC side of things. Add to this the Canada Cup for Sitting Volleyball, the International Referee Symposium, and the various coaching sessions, the Ricoh World League / DEC Open Championship venues were a massive week long volleyball buzz.

Video: The best of World League 2011

I want to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to everyone who was involved in last weekend's World League event, making it a huge success in many ways, including spectator attendance and Canadian team performance. Our players got off to a good start with a 2-1 record and I hope they can now continue getting some wins while on the road in Poland (June 1-3), Brazil (June 8-10) and Finland (June 15-17). Beating Brazil in front of a sell-out capacity crowd of 8,000 plus live on CBC television across the country is definitely a highlight of the weekend.

FIVB Volleyball World League 2012 Media Guide

I was fortunate to work as the Polish team's official liaison while they trained and competed in Toronto.  The Poles, currently the fourth-ranked team in the world had a great tournament beating Brazil and Canada and finishing on the top of the group.  It was an awesome learning experience for me.  The team runs like a Swiss watch on and off the court.  It was nice to see  "excellence" in action starting with the coaching, as well as the support and medical staff working tirelessly to make sure the players are well at all times. I would like to personally thank coaches Andrea Anastiasi, Andrea Gardini  and all the others for making themselves available and sharing a lot of insight about their coaching philosophies.  I know that they left Canada full-filled and had a great time here.

Video: 2012 World League Highlights -Toronto

Let's hope that Volleyball Canada will remain involved in the World League on an annual basis making all volleyball players, supporters and fans happy.

Mirek Porosa
Head Coach, Ryerson Rams men's volleyball