I guess most of you have wondered what could be the reason of organising such a programme. The answer is simple: a promise. A promise I made to the girl-volleyball team (formed in 2004 and still in that year taking part in the Students' Olympia Final) of Kölcsey Ferenc Grammar School, Zalaegerszeg. The idea popped out of my teammate’s, Erika Gelencsér's head, but because most of the girls graduated in that year we did not have the possibility to fulfill it. That is why it was organised a year later in March 2005, in the gymnasium of Kölcsey Ferenc Grammar School by the name: 24 Hour-Long Mixed Volleyball Championship. Eleven teams took part in the competition, from the following cities: Zalaegerszeg, Nagykanizsa, Keszthely and Budapest.
The players (except for a few) were all at the amateur level, who were attracted by the challange and the love of volleyball. The teams, the coaches, the supervising teachers, the medical staff, and even the spectators proved to have a great endurance to "survive" this probe. Exhausted, but with smiling faces we lined up for the declaration of the results. But this happiness mixed with a little sorrow for thinking that this was the first and last time of having the possibility to play volleyball for 24 hours. Fortunately, we were deceived... :)
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Considering the unexpected success and the heartening feedbacks the organisers once again started to set up the conditions for a next competition, greater than the previous one. For this reason we looked for sponsors and found Endre Gyorfi one of the leaders of ENZO Company. From this moment on the name and the outlook of the programme changed and we gave birth to the ENZO 24 Hour-Long Volleyball Cup. The teams that took part in the Cup the previous year along with the newly-entered ones (among them a team from Ljutomer, Slovenia) competed again for 24 hours for the trophy for the best. During the breaks between the matches several players and coaches came up to us with the idea of making a tradition out of this initiation. And we did what they asked for...
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A long and hard way led here but we made it and now it can be declared that the ENZO 24 Hour-Long Volleyball Cup have become a tradition officially. On 5th April 2007. at 2 o’clock p.m. with the symbolic serve of Csaba Gyutai, the vice-major of Zalaegerszeg, the 24 hour-long competion for the trophy of the best started again. The Cup broke the record by overstepping the limit of 20 teams and by the number of players (152) taking part in the programme. There were very young (12-13 year-old) players and older ones (25 year-old) among the competitors. There were many well-known, familiar faces at the Cup, but to our great pleasure we met a lot of newly entered, enthusiastic boys and girls. The teams came from: Zalaegerszeg, Keszthely, Lenti, Nagykanizsa, Budapest, Mosonmagyaróvár and Pécs. Not only school-teams entered the competition but teams of friends too. A great and important support was given to us by the Zala Megyei Sportszövettségek Egyesülése – The Assembly of the Sport Associations of Zala County- mainly from Ferenc Kámán, the Government of Zalaegerszeg, mainly from our sport-loving major: Dr. Endre Gyimesi and Dr. Péter Peitler, and last but not at least one of the main organisers of the local volleyball-life: László Pais. We are very grateful for their help! I also would like to say thank you for the Zrínyi Miklós Grammar School, Zalaegerszeg for providing us the essential technical equipments for the Cup! The Challange Cup offered by the Government of Zalaegerszeg was won by the team Easy Rider (Zalaegerszeg). Members of the team: Tünde Domján, Szilvia Gerencsér, Adrienn Gyenes, Dávid Horváth, Zoltán Kramarics, Jr. Zoltán Gyenes (team-captain), and Péter Tihanyi (Kométa Kaposvár RC). We wait those who would challange them next year!!!
