VolleyBar SPECIAL: Halloween edition

On this day…
Amarcord and volleyball birthdays on October 31, Halloween and volleyball, #NoClubsNoVolley and Philippines

Welcome to this special edition of VolleyBar, one that neither of us had planned to write. However, since Halloween is a celebration much loved by many of our readers, we decided to make an exception to our usual weekend break.
After all, “Mondo Volley” never takes a break.
So, alongside a little treat for you and an extra publication for us, this is also a favour to those who, after copying many of our articles almost word for word in Italian, went on to blatantly imitate the very idea of our daily column — filling it with news originally published here and on our website. Great job!

Either way, October 31 is not just Halloween.
The date brings together a major milestone in Italian national-team history, two significant beach volleyball anniversaries, a Chinese home triumph on the FIVB World Tour and a handful of birthdays worth remembering.
And Halloween itself has developed a surprisingly entertaining relationship with volleyball, particularly in American college sport, where costumes, themed matches and special team traditions have become part of the calendar!

On October 31, 2010, Italy sweep Kenya 3–0 (25:9, 25:7, 25:21) in the first round of the Women’s World Championship in Japan. The result gave Massimo Barbolini’s team its third consecutive victory and effectively secured its place in the second round.
But the day had an additional significance: Eleonora Lo Bianco won her 475th cap for Italy, setting a new appearance record for Italian volleyball, men and women combined, according to the Italian Volleyball Federation.
Barbolini made several changes to the starting line-up against Kenya. Francesca Piccinini, meanwhile, made her first appearance of the tournament after completing her recovery. Ilaria Garzaro and libero Chiara Arcangeli also made their World Championship debuts.
It was a memorable day for Italian volleyball: a comfortable team victory and a landmark achievement for one of its greatest setters.

The day in Japan featured more than Italy’s victory. The official tournament report records two further matches in Pool B:
• Puerto Rico – Czech Republic 0–3 (14:25, 14:25, 17:25)
• Brazil – Netherlands 3–0 (25:19, 25:18, 25:14)

Brazil also reached three wins from three matches. Its victory was particularly emphatic considering that both Brazil and the Netherlands had played five-set matches the previous day. The Dutch, whose leading scorer Manon Flier had produced a remarkable performance on October 30, struggled to reproduce that attacking form.

On October 31, 2009 Dutch beach volleyball legends Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil won the men’s Sanya Open, the final stop of the 2009 FIVB World Tour.
They defeated China’s Wu and Xu 2–0 (21:13, 21:14) in the final, needing just 35 minutes to secure the title. Spain’s Pablo Herrera and Adrián Gavira took bronze after beating Russia’s Prokopiev and Bogatov 2–1 (17:21, 21:12, 15:10).
The victory was the sixth of Nummerdor and Schuil’s nine FIVB World Tour titles together.

Another October 31, 2010, another Sanya Open title. This time, the celebration belonged to China. Xue Chen and Zhang Xi defeated Germany’s Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig to win the women’s tournament, finishing the entire event without dropping a single set.
The victory was particularly meaningful: the Beijing 2008 Olympic bronze medallists became the first Chinese beach volleyball team to win a World Tour gold medal on home soil since 2007. It was also the seventh World Tour gold of their partnership and the fifth consecutive tournament in which they had reached the gold-medal match.
In the bronze-medal match, Americans Jennifer Kessy and April Ross defeated Brazilian sisters Carolina and Maria Carol Salgado.

Kseniia Parubets was born on October 31, 1994 and turns 32 today.
Born Kseniia Ilchenko in Yekaterinburg, she became one of the prominent Russian outside hitters of her generation. She was part of the Russian team that won the 2015 European Championship and took silver at the 2015 World Grand Prix, before adding bronze at the 2019 World Cup.
Her career has been closely associated with Uralochka-NTMK, the club where she developed and established herself at the highest level.

The Japanese middle blocker Mai Okumura was also born on October 31, 1990 and turns 36 today. She represented Japan at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, where the host nation finished tenth in the women’s tournament.

Darienn Ferrer Delís, born on October 31, 1982, turns 44. Born in Santiago de Cuba, the 2.02-metre middle blocker represented his country at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, where Cuba finished tied for eleventh place. He is a less widely remembered name than the great Cuban stars of earlier generations, but his Olympic participation makes him a worthwhile addition to the date’s volleyball birthday archive.

And now something different: Halloween and volleyball with costumes, traditions and a few unusual stories!
One of the most entertaining Halloween-related volleyball stories dates back to 2014, when the women’s volleyball players of the University of Puget Sound in the United States decided to take the idea of a team costume party onto the court.
The players appeared in an assortment of costumes, posed for photographs and then went out to play in their outfits, with their coach giving the idea his blessing and filming the occasion.
It is a small story, but a lovely example of how the sport can turn a team-building activity into something memorable for players and supporters alike.

The Ball State women’s volleyball programme has made Halloween part of its team calendar, with an annual costume practice. This year, the players posed for a team photograph in their costumes before taking on Bowling Green in a weekend doubleheader.
The Saturday, October 31 match at Worthen Arena is promoted as “Chirp or Treat”. Young fans are invited to arrive in costume and trick-or-treat around the arena concourse, where student-athletes from several Ball State sports programmes and members of the spirit squad hand out candy. Children also receive free admission when accompanied by an adult with a paid ticket.
It is a good example of how a university volleyball match can become a wider community celebration, not simply a sporting event.
UC Davis have also built a special Halloween weekend around volleyball, hosting league-leading Hawai‘i for two consecutive matches on October 30 and 31.
The Saturday fixture is the Halloween-day meeting, with the Aggies looking to use home support against one of the strongest teams in their conference. A themed doubleheader gives the occasion a festival atmosphere while keeping the competition itself firmly at the centre.
And then there are others Halloween-themed volleyball events on this day.
At Marietta College, for example, a match against Baldwin Wallace is part of a wider community Halloween event, with a Trunk or Treat, a haunted house and free admission for spectators wearing costumes.
At Iona University, women’s volleyball programme has scheduled a Halloween match against Marist, encouraging supporters to wear costumes and enjoy themed music and activities.
At University of Michigan, the Wolverines’ match against Indiana on October 31 features a costume-party promotion, following a Friday night match against top-ranked Nebraska.
At University of Denver, children in costume can receive free admission to the Halloween match against San Francisco when accompanied by an adult with a paid ticket.
At Mount Holyoke College, a costume contest is part of the October 30 women’s volleyball match against Fitchburg State, with prizes for the best group and most creative outfit.
These are not all professional events, of course. But they demonstrate how deeply Halloween has become woven into the social side of college volleyball in the United States.

Either way, before Halloween became a night of pumpkins, costumes, sweets and horror films, it was connected to something much older: Samhain, an ancient Celtic seasonal festival marking the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter.
Celebrated around October 31 and November 1, Samhain marked the transition into the darker half of the year. In Celtic tradition, this was also a time when the boundary between the world of the living and the spirit world was believed to become less distinct. Bonfires were lit, offerings were made and people wore disguises to protect themselves from, or confuse, wandering spirits.
As Christianity spread through Celtic regions, older customs gradually blended with Christian observances. November 1 became All Saints’ Day, also known as All Hallows’ Day, while the evening before became All Hallows’ Eve, eventually shortened to Halloween.
All Souls’ Day followed on November 2, creating the three-day period associated with remembering the dead.

Why do we carve pumpkins?
The familiar jack-o’-lantern also has an interesting history.
In Ireland and Scotland, people originally carved faces into turnips and other root vegetables. The tradition was associated with the legend of Stingy Jack, a man said to have tricked the Devil and been condemned to wander with a glowing ember inside a hollowed-out vegetable.
When Irish immigrants brought their customs to North America during the nineteenth century, they discovered that pumpkins were larger and much easier to carve. The pumpkin eventually became the unmistakable symbol of Halloween.

And where did trick-or-treating come from?
The custom has several historical influences. In medieval Britain and Ireland, souling involved poor people visiting houses and receiving food in exchange for prayers for the dead. In Scotland and Ireland, guising involved dressing up, going door to door and performing a song, poem or joke in return for a treat.
The modern expression trick or treat became firmly established in American popular culture during the twentieth century, especially after the Second World War.
And perhaps that is the most interesting connection with volleyball: Halloween has always been about disguise, performance, collective celebration and a little bit of theatrical mischief. Those are qualities that translate rather naturally into a team sport built around coordinated movement, costumes for fun and a crowd ready to participate!

Back to our sport, the FIVB is facing organized pushback from professional clubs over its proposed calendar changes for the 2028–2032 cycles.
The FIVB’s draft proposal outlines a significant restructuring of the global volleyball schedule that could disrupt the traditional club season. Under the proposed changes, the club season would begin earlier than its usual mid-October start and either conclude or pause midway through the season, between December and January, to accommodate a new window for national team activities.
In response, several top-tier organizations have expressed concerns about how these calendar adjustments could affect league operations, player availability, and the overall club ecosystem.
Italian powerhouse Sir Safety Perugia is spearheading the opposition. The club has officially launched the #NoClubsNoVolley campaign, inviting volleyball clubs worldwide to use the hashtag as a show of solidarity against the proposed scheduling overhaul, joined by other clubs across Italy and Europe, including Valsa Group Modena, Gas Sales BluEnergy Piacenza, Allianz Milano, Neftohimik Burgas and Levski Sofia.

In short:
Perugia launches a boycott against the upcoming 2028–2032 FIVB calendar, which aims to suspend club competitions from November to January.

On one side, PERUGIA says: “No clubs, no volleyball. You cannot put our competitions on hold and leave our sponsors and fans out of the game for three months.”

On the other side, the FIVB says: “Club volleyball is too fragmented. If we want volleyball to become like football, we need a proper window for national teams.”

Do you agree with Perugia or the FIVB, and why?

Meanwhile, the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) is exploring a regional partnership to co-host the upcoming FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Cup. According to a local report, the federation is taking a page from the successful 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup blueprint, with neighboring countries Vietnam and Indonesia being considered as potential co-hosts.
Under the proposed arrangement, the partner nations would host the preliminary-round matches, while the Philippines would serve as the main host, retaining the rights to stage the high-stakes playoff rounds and championship finals. To accommodate the massive event, the federation is looking beyond the traditional major arenas in Metro Manila and considering the newly opened SM Seaside Arena in Cebu as a potential premier venue.
Originally scheduled for 2029, the global volleyball showcase has reportedly been moved to January 2030, according to PNVF Deputy Executive Director Juanito Gregorio. The additional time would give organizers and potential co-hosts more room to finalize preparations and logistical arrangements.
This would not be the first time the FIVB Volleyball World Cup has been jointly hosted by multiple countries.
The Netherlands and Poland co-hosted the 2022 edition, while the United States and Canada are set to co-host the 2027 edition.

To close, the saddest news: Volleytimes.com is deeply saddened by the passing of Heyzer Harsono, Secretary General of the Indonesian Volleyball Federation (PBVSI), who died on 30 October 2026 at the age of 68.
He served as Secretary General of the Indonesian Volleyball Federation (PBVSI), AVC Zonal Vice President representing Southeastern Asia, and Head of the AVC Development and Marketing Committee.
He also served as Director of the Jakarta Centre of Excellence in Sentul, Bogor. His involvement in grassroots volleyball included opening the Indonesia Mass Volley Festival in Bogor in 2014, which brought together 1,200 young participants to learn and play the sport.
In Indonesia, he was closely associated with Surabaya Samator and, alongside his commitment to volleyball, he pursued a career in the industrial gas sector, serving as President Commissioner of PT Samator Indo Gas Tbk.
Our team extends its deepest condolences to his family, friends and colleagues, as well as to PBVSI, the AVC, Surabaya Samator and all the Indonesian volleyball community.

Have a great volleyball weekend and not only!