EMC members review experiences and take lessons from pandemic

The European Medical Commission (EMC) chaired by Prof Dr Manfred Holzgraefe had their annual meeting earlier today – with members joining the session via video link.

CEV Vice-President Margaret Ann Fleming attended the EMC meeting for the very first time following her appointment as liaison between the Medical Commission and the CEV Board of Administration. Ms Fleming expressed much gratitude to all members of the EMC for the terrific work accomplished since the outbreak of the global health crisis in early 2020 and their help in designing protocols and guidelines for the safe delivery of events even in the most difficult and challenging pandemic times. Ms Fleming invited the EMC members to continue to act as one team in close cooperation with the CEV Board of Administration and the staff working at the CEV headquarters in Luxembourg.

Apart from the coronavirus-related items, the EMC discussed a proposal to expand the monitoring of injuries to all competitions run by the CEV, with the help of all EMC-accredited medical doctors and physios. With this in mind, the EMC will propose to the CEV Board of Administration the establishment of a Working Group to have a better understanding of the recurring injuries and incidents affecting Volleyball players.

Next to this, the EMC will continue with their current studies (referees’ stress programme, COVID-19), while reviewing the challenges and taking lessons from the experiences the Volleyball family has made since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Finally, the EMC appointed Medical Delegates to all events scheduled for 2022 – with these officials in charge of running and supervising all medical affairs, including the performance of doping controls.