The Game Plan - quarter two updates (from July to September 2024)

A Community of Practice session brought together 12 Regions and Counties (R&C) where a focus was on discussions around workforce challenge and exploring collaborative solutions. 

Five new Regions and Counties joined the R&C Discord channel, which continues to grow and enhance cross-region and county communication. 

Hub staff were invited to attend four Regional AGMs delivering updates and to listen to regional challenges. 

A programme of nine free online webinars has been shared with volleyball’s communities for 2024-25 (with two so far delivered) for affiliated clubs, following input from the Volleyball England Club Survey. 

The 2025-25 HEVO programme was launched for 2024-25, with 46 universities registering. The Conference was held at NVC in September seeing the highest ever participant satisfaction. 

369 clubs have affiliated and 5,223 individuals have been registered on VolleyZone by the end of September. 

The Hub team has supported the delivery of 25 one-on-one calls to Clubs, Regions and Counties, leading members through the process. 

An inaugural Club Welfare Officer Workshop has been staged and was attended by 50 Club Welfare Officers and Sport Welfare Officers from around the country. 

The 2024-25 Club Survey to be launched. 

Progress underway to organise an Inclusivity Workshop for HEVOs.  

More Club Workshops – click here to see the full calendar. 

A partnership with eCoach has been established to develop a Learner Management System (LMS) which will provide accessible training, resources and ongoing support to the volleyball community. 

Downloadable registration cards have now been made available for coaches and referees on VolleyZone. 

The first seven group of coaches to achieve the new Volleyball England Coach Award have gained their certificates. 

Four coaches have participated in the inaugural Sitting Volleyball Coach Award during the September Workforce Weekend, while 19 indoor coaches completed the practical Technical Module. 

Officials Working Group Nick Heckford hosted the NVL coaches’ briefing in September. 

Jane Ashbrook and Dave Gunter represented Volleyball England at the CEV Coaches’ Convention in Sofia, Bulgaria in September. 

An annual professional development  programme has been published to support learning and development  

A series of three pre-season briefings for referees have been delivered, aimed at ensuring consistent rules interpretation and promoting smooth refereeing. 

A Find a Fixture webpage on the Volleyball England website is now live, helping newly-qualified referees find appointments. 

Find a Referee is available in Club Hub to help affiliated clubs who are looking for a referee for a match 

11 Her Call ambassadors have been appointed to promote the programme for women officials within their communities. 

The Junior, Indoor and Beach pathways are to be launched.  

An Event Volunteer Pathway is to be developed. 

A webinar programme with guest speakers is to be staged. 

A new and revised Beach Volleyball Referee Course is to be developed. 

The two-day UK Volleyball Coaching Symposium (supported by FIVB funding) ran is September and featured attendees from all the Home Nations plus Ireland, with the highly-respected Jim Stone as the headline presenter. 

England’s Senior Women came together to train in August, incorporating many U22s, to begin preparations, along with the men’s teams, for Euro qualification next Summer. 

A national Futures camp ran in early September with plans to develop multiple regional versions during the forthcoming indoor season. 

A Perfbook upgrade has been introduced and configured, helping the Talent team to manage the performance of the players on the Talent Pathway. 

The Bello brothers were runners-up in the FISU World Student Championships in Brazil, while fellow beach players Freddie Bialokoz and Issa Batrane claimed their maiden Beach Pro Tour title in Canada. 

Progress is being made to redevelop the Talent area of the website. 

International beach volleyball has been brought back to London for the first time since the Olympics in 2012, with The Queen and King of the Court event provided opportunity for English pairs to compete against some of the best in the world. 

An inaugural Five Nations Championships has been confirmed for 3rd to 5th January at the National Volleyball Centre. The event will comprise of 10 senior national teams from across the Home Nations, as well as Ireland and Gibraltar. 

There are 116 teams entered into the U18 Junior Grand Prix Series which has brought together tier one and tier two together, guaranteeing 15 matches through the season, with 50 more teams than 2023-24 competing. 

The Super League Final 4 will be hosted at the Crystal Palace Sport Centre in London, unlocking new growth markets in partners, fans and engagement. 

The U18 Super Series is to be launch, providing a pinnacle to the domestic junior competition, with the top eight male and female ranked teams competing. 

A new concept called Super League is to launch for the 2024-25 season in November, with five double headers (10 matches) planned. 

A carbon Impact assessment has been undertaken and a Sustainability Plan is being drawn up by Greenly to calculate and look at ways to assess the business’ GHG emissions. 

DYNAMIK has been confirmed as the Men’s Super League title sponsor for the next four years and advanced discussions have been held with a number of other commercial partners. 

A review of 25 Volleyball England policies has been conducted to ensure continued safe and fair practice within the sport. 

The 2024 Player Survey has seen a record number of completions, with more than 1,000 responses from players from 240 clubs. 

The Queen & King of the Court London Showcase provided an opportunity to continue the raise the profile of the sport with more than a million video views across social media of content relating to the event. 

30-month reporting is to be presented to Sport England 

Operational Planning for 2025-26 will start with the Board, delegated authority groups and the Hub team. 

Player seminars are to be held in November  

A D&I Advisory Group is to be appointed.