Special Olympics Volleyball Week – Ponte Buggianese Leg

A celebration of sport and inclusion in Ponte Buggianese

The PalaPertini in Ponte Buggianese, in the province of Pistoia, serves as the Tuscan stage for the Special Olympics Volleyball Week, the annual week that Special Olympics Italia dedicates to unified volleyball. Here, in the heart of the Valdinievole region and just a few kilometres from the Padule di Fucecchio, athletes with and without intellectual disabilities take to the court side-by-side to prove that the values of sport and inclusion go hand in hand.

Unified volleyball: the only way

The hallmark of this event is its unified format: in Special Olympics, volleyball exists exclusively in this form, featuring mixed teams of athletes with intellectual disabilities and partners without disabilities. This approach prioritizes collaboration over pure competition, transforming every match into a shared growth experience. The Ponte Buggianese leg is typically played as a four-team tournament, with four squads facing off over the course of a single day.

A network of Tuscan teams

The PalaPertini parquet hosts teams from the Tuscan Special Olympics movement, including the Super Boys and Girls of Pieve a Nievole, the ASD Super Boys and Girls, the All Stars of Arezzo, and the Special Team Sky Ball of Grosseto. This representation highlights how deeply rooted the promotion of unified volleyball is across the region, carried out in local gyms, schools, and associations.

More than just a match

The Ponte Buggianese leg is more than just a tournament: it is a community event supported wholeheartedly by the Municipality of Ponte Buggianese, welcoming athletes, families, coaches, and volunteers. The goal goes beyond the final score: it is about promoting unified volleyball, raising public awareness, and giving full visibility and value to people with intellectual disabilities.

A national event

The Ponte Buggianese event is one of many stages across Italy that bring the Special Olympics Volleyball Week to life—a proudly Italian initiative that runs alongside the European Basketball Week and the European Football Week. The week is held under the patronage of the Lega Pallavolo Serie A and the Lega Volley Femminile, confirming the increasingly strong bond between professional volleyball and the world of inclusive sports.