V International Volleyball Congress

The V International Volleyball Congress, to be held on 5 and 6 September at Hotel Barcelona Plaza in Barcelona, will conclude its fifth edition with one of the programme’s most moving and inspiring conferences. Lola Fernández Ochoa, Olympic skier and president of Fundación Blanca, will close the Congress with «Siempre hacia adelante», a life story that invites reflection on resilience, personal growth, and the importance of caring for mental health before, during, and after an athletic career. Lola belongs to one of the most emblematic families in the history of Spanish sport. Of the eight Fernández Ochoa siblings, six went on to compete at the highest level and represent Spain at the Olympic Games, inspired by the example of their older brother, Francisco «Paco» Fernández Ochoa, Olympic champion at Sapporo 1972. Years later, her sister Blanca Fernández Ochoa would write another indelible page in Spanish sport by becoming the first Spanish woman to win an Olympic medal at a Winter Olympic Games, with bronze at Albertville 1992. Under the title «Siempre hacia adelante», Lola will share a deeply human journey that goes far beyond sport. She will recall a childhood marked by effort, discipline, and a passion for skiing, family training camps at Baqueira, the demands of growing up in a family of champions, and her own career as an elite athlete. She will also talk about the knee injury that ended her athletic career and the difficult process of facing retirement, for which many athletes are not prepared. The conference will also address one of the hardest episodes of her life: the loss of her sister Blanca Fernández Ochoa. From that experience, Fundación Blanca was born, an organization that works to support athletes in caring for their mental health by offering psychological support, training, and tools to successfully face the transition to a new personal and professional stage once competition has ended. It is a project born from the conviction that emotional well-being should be part of an athletic career just as much as physical or technical training. During the session, attendees will also be able to discover excerpts from the documentary that tells the story of the Fernández Ochoa family and Blanca’s legacy, a testimony highlighting the importance of speaking naturally about mental health and preparing athletes for the moment when they stop competing. With this conference, the V International Volleyball Congress will put the finishing touch to a weekend dedicated to training, innovation, and the exchange of knowledge. «Siempre hacia adelante» will be much more than a conference: it will be an invitation to understand that true success does not end with a medal or with the end of an athletic career, but continues in the ability to reinvent oneself, find new goals, and keep moving forward. An inspiring message for coaches, referees, executives, athletes, and all those who believe that sport is, above all, a school of life. The entry Lola Fernández Ochoa will close the V International Volleyball Congress with the inspiring conference «Siempre hacia adelante» was first published in Federació Catalana de Voleibol - FCVOLEI.