Besides presenting the General Assembly Reports, covering activities for 2022 and 2023, and plans for 2024, the WPV Elections will be taking place during the General Assembly.

Elections

As is the case with all World ParaVolley General Assemblies, there will be elections this year for the following positions:

President (four-year term)
Vice President (two-year term; up for election again in 2026)
Medical Director (four-year term)
Development Director (four-year term)

ParaVolley Europe is proud to have candidates representing the European from the PVE Zone:

Jürgen Schrapp (GER) - Candidate for President

Official Recommendation Letter issued by the German Association for Parasports:

“Jürgen Schrapp has a long athlete track record on national and international level for the past 30 years.

He has participated in seven Summer Paralympics and many more international tournaments and has been the Captain of the German Team for about 20 years. Over this period of time he has also been a driving force of Paravolleyball in Germany in different roles such as Athlete Representative, Tournament Organizer or Team Manager.

Next to his impressive sports career he also has been very successful on the professional level working for a large global multinational company demonstrating his leadership and skills and strategic mindset.

With the combination of these two dimensions, we see him as a perfect fit for the profile you are looking for as President.”

See Schrapp’s official mission and vision here.

Elvira Stinissen (NED) - Candidate for Vice-President

Official Recommendation Letter issued by the Dutch Volleyball Federation (NEVOBO):

“Elvira Stinissen (March 26th, 1979) is a former Dutch sitting volleyball player and captain of the National Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team. In 2018, she retired from playing for the Dutch team. Elvira represented the Netherlands at the 2008 Summer Paralympic Games in Beijing, where the team won the bronze medal. She also competed in the 2012 Summer Paralympic Games in London, reaching the 4th place with her team. Her final participation in the Paralympics was in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, where the team finished in 6th place. Elvira retired from the Dutch team in 2018 after the World Championship in the Netherlands, having played a total of 275 international matches. For her contributions, she received the Golden Federation Pin.

Elvira studied social sciences and administrative and organizational sciences, aiming to help organizations undergo change. Her experience in sports led her to Sportservice where she worked until 2013. This organization supports municipalities, sport-clubs and welfare institutions in encouraging people to be more physically active.

Since 2013, Elvira has worked for the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. In this role, she advises the Minister of Sports regarding the national sport-policy and the set-up of the sportinfrastructure in the Netherlands. Elvira is specialized in the field of inclusive sports. She coordinates a network of more than 50 organizations involved in this field and is responsible for the effective deployment of the budget. Within the Dutch Volleyball Federation (Nevobo), Elvira has been actively involved in boosting sitting volleyball since 2013. She developed “the sitting volleyball action plan” in collaboration with the Johan Cruyff Foundation. She succeeded in bringing the sport to schools, rehabilitation centers and clubs. She has also worked extensively on further integrating sitting volleyball within the Nevobo, strengthening its position alongside indoor

and beach volleyball.

In short, Elvira brings her experience as a player, policymaker, and coordinator and she understands how a federation works like no other. We wholeheartedly support her candidacy and hope she can contribute to strengthening World ParaVolley in the role of Vice President.”

See Stinissen’s official mission and vision here.

David Cox (NOR) - Candidate for Vice-President

Official Recommendation Letter issued by the Norwegian Volleyball Federation:

“The Norwegian Volleyball Federation (NVBF) wishes to make a formal endorsement of Mr. David Vance Cox as candidate for Vice President in World ParaVolley (WPV).

Mr. Cox has been associated with volleyball in Norway in several different capacities since 1977. He has contributed to the sport as a volunteer, player, referee, coach,

project manager, President of the Rules and Refereeing Commission, a member of regional and national Board of Trustees and as an employee of the Federation since

August 2007. He has worked as referee and technical delegate for regional and national championships. In addition to his work in volleyball, Cox has been involved

in beach volleyball since 1993 as referee, project manager, Competition and Tournament Director and organizer of events. As in volleyball, he has also worked as

referee and technical delegate for regional and national championships. Internationally, Cox has represented Norway as an international referee in volleyball and beach volleyball officiating in several European and World Championships. He was responsible for delivering the World Championships in beach volleyball in Stavanger, Norway in 2009. He has been an associated member of the European Refereeing Commission (ERC) which is part of the European Volleyball Federation (CEV). Additionally, Cox has been Referee Delegate for both CEV and FIVB, a Technical Supervisor in volleyball for CEV and is, at present, a Technical Delegate for both FIVB and CEV in beach volleyball.

In 2022, Cox was appointed as Assistant Sport Director Beach ParaVolley and, in this capacity, has delivered the 1st official WPV World Championships in Beach ParaVolley

in May 2024. At present, he is working on securing international events in beach paravolley to apply for and be granted paralympic classification of beach paravolley at the Paralympics in Brisbane in 2032. Cox represents NVBF as project manager and Competition Director for the PVE European Championships in sitting volleyball for Men Division C and Women Division B to be held in May 2025 in Stavanger, Norway.

Cox’s involvement in volleyball and beach volleyball have been of invaluable importance to NVBF. He was hired in August 2007 to run the Competition Department for the Federation. In 2019, the department was reorganized and became the Events and Competition Department. In his capacity as employee, Cox has been a source of inclusiveness, enthusiasm, engagement, creativity, deliverance and loyalty which has been and is vital to our organization. On 1 September 2024, Cox was made Senior Advisor in order to ensure the transfer of knowledge and expertise as well as competency development in the area of national and international events and competitions, development of competition halls and venues and the production of handbooks enabling all levels of activity to provide the best possible conditions for members.

Outside of his involvement in volleyball, beach volleyball and beach paravolley, Cox has worked in the fields of teaching, counseling, mediation and conflict management.

The latter was in diverse areas such as youth and minor criminal offenders, expatriation of refugees from the Balkan war, Chechnya, Middle East, South America and Africa.

During his years of work, both in sports and outside of sports, Cox has established an extensive network both nationally and internationally which will be an asset to WPV

in their endeavor to become a vital international organization within Para Sports.”

See Cox’s official mission and vision here.

Dr. Milan Milosevic (CRO) - Candidate for Medical Director

Official Recommendation Letter issued by the Croatian Volleyball Federation:

“On behalf of Croatian Paralympic Committee, we offer a proposal for the position of Medical Director of World Paravolley.

Our proposal is Milan Milosevic, MD, PhD, specialist in occupational and sports medicine and an active member of Croatian Paralympic Committee Health and Classification Commission. As a medical doctor and university professor in occupation and sports medicine at Medical School University of Zagreb he has more than 20 years of experience in sports medicine, anti-doping procedures and education, injury prevention programmes and teammwork. He has huge experience in providing leadership and coordination on matters relating to the medical aspects of World ParaVolley, with a focus on classification, anti-doping, athlete health and scientific research.

Hereby we endorse his nomination for Medical Director of World ParaVolley on following elections.”

See Milosevic’s official mission and vision here.

Good luck to all the candidates!

Logo source: WPV