Peter was a passionate and dedicated leader in the paravolley family for over twenty years. World ParaVolley was very fortunate to count him among the leaders of the federation – all sports need people like Peter in their midst!
Peter was introduced to the world of sitting volleyball in 2004 by another mover and shaker, Jouke de Haan, and quickly discovered and developed his passion for the sport. Peter was head coach of the Dutch Men’s Sitting Volleyball Team and the Dutch Youth Team from 2007 to 2010. He led the team to many competitions and during the same period became involved in the guidance and training of sitting volleyball coaches in the Netherlands.
Peter’s passion quickly evolved to the global scale, with energy and vigor. In 2010, Peter began a long-term commitment as a World ParaVolley coaching instructor, leading many coaching courses, not only close to home, but with increasing focus within ParaVolley Africa. Peter led many courses and events in many countries including (but certainly not limited to!) Kenya, Rwanda and Zimbabwe. At the same time, Peter began coaching the Rwandan men’s sitting volleyball team in 2010, while supporting NPC Rwanda in their program and organizational development and planning. Peter’s legacy is still very visible in Rwanda today.
Under Peter’s leadership, the Rwandan men’s team competed at the 2010 World Sitting Volleyball Championships, followed by a winning performance at the 2011 Sub-Saharan Sitting Volleyball Championships, which earned the team a place at the 2012 London Paralympic Games.
Peter’s attention then shifted to developing the women’s sitting volleyball program in Rwanda, which would ultimately be seen as a huge source of pride for Peter. An ambitious plan culminated in winning the 2015 African Zonal Championships, qualifying the women’s team for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. This was a monumental achievement: Rwanda had become the first African women’s team each sport to qualify for the Paralympic Games. Since then, Rwandan teams have continued their successes, regularly finishing in the top places at African Zonal Championships and competing fiercely in every competition they entered.
In recent years, Peter has been closely involved with the World ParaVolley Coaches’ Commission, as a teacher, mentor and content developer and as a contributor to WPV’s online coaching programs.
Peter had recently completed the book ‘Rwanda’s Road to Rio’, which details his daring mission to build Africa’s first Paralympic qualifying women’s sports team from scratch: the Rwanda National Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team. This beautiful book can be found HERE.
Peter was also the recipient of the World ParaVolley Awards – receiving them in 2020 World ParaVolley Reconition Award as an International Coach and Coach Educator, and in 2023 he received a Award for distinguished servicesrecognizing the breadth of his activities as a coach, mentor, administrator and builder. He was also a World ParaVolley ‘Mover and Shaker’, profiled as such HERE.
World ParaVolley once again expresses its sincere condolences to Peter’s family and friends. Pieter, you will be missed…
#Vale #Peter #Karreman #NED #World #ParaVolley