The Game Plan - quarter four updates (from January to March 2025)

GET. KEEP. GROW  

Connected and stronger Regions, Counties, Clubs and Stakeholders. 

 

Achievements: 

Supporting Club Networks through partnerships and resources

• Three Club Workshops were delivered for the affiliated clubs on Financial Planning and Income Generation, Legal Structures, and Club Culture and Values.  

• The 2024-25 Annual Club Survey saw a record 244 clubs participate, providing critical insight. The club satisfaction rating improved from 6.5 last year to 7.1 this year.
   

Building and strengthening the relationship with Universities, Colleges and Regions 

• The fourth Community of Practice for Regions and Counties took place that brought together eight Regions and Counties, focusing on challenges around venues. 

• The University of East London piloted the first ever University Sitting Volleyball tournament, with teams from The University of Nottingham, Loughborough University, The University of East London and the University of Essex laying the groundwork for future sitting competitions at university level.
   

Ensuring the volleyball community feels valued and engaged

• The Annual Awards 2025 received an impressive 188 nominations – the highest since the Covid-19 Pandemic – across 12 categories reflecting a 55% increase from last year.
   

Coming up in Q1 (April, May and June):

• Clubs identifying in the Annual Club Survey as ‘surviving’ will be provided one-to-one club development support. 

• Annual Awards 2025 will take place on Cups Final Weekend 2025. 

• Clubs wishing to manage their membership through VolleyZone will be contacted and provided support.

• Campaign to recruit Higher Education Volleyball Officers for next season to be launched. 

 

VOLLEYBALL FOR LIFE (WORKFORCE)  

Building a diverse, inclusive and engaged volleyball workforce 

 

Achievements: 

 Pathway Management and Development  

• The new Learner Management System, Volleyball England Learning, has been launched as the new umbrella brand for all volleyball education, learning and development. Access it here. 

• Let’s Play Volleyball programme has been relaunched with new materials and resources to develop Volley2s, Volley3s and Volley4s mini games and can be found here. 

 

Make educational opportunities accessible to continue to improve the number of confident and competent referees   

• A new format for upgrading referees has been introduced to improve the opportunities for talented officials to progress. 

• 37 referees have successfully applied to be part of the National Referee Development Programme. 

• The Grade 4 Beach Referee Award has been updated to include a blend of independent study, online classroom session, online assessment, and face to face feedback and development support. 

• 55 referees attend the third in the series of Referee Development Webinars led by Nick Heckford, while 16 referees attended the 2025 pre-season briefing for Beach Referees. 

 

Make educational opportunities accessible to continue to improve the number of confident and competent coaches  

• The Assistant Coach Award has been updated to include bespoke volleyball-specific safeguarding training. 

• The Coach Award has been renamed as the Club Coach Award. 

• A record 18 coaches applied to represent England at the Sixth Annual CEV Coaches Convention with junior coaches Stephanie Boyce and Nick Sampson being selected. 

 

Coming up in Q1 (April, May and June): 

• Level 2 Club Coach Award practical to take place in Kettering. 

• Annual Officials Refereeing Upgrading meeting to be staged. 

 

VOLLEYBALL FOR LIFE (TALENT)  

Building a diverse, inclusive and engaged volleyball workforce and strong talent pathway   

 

Achievements: 

Develop a robust Beach Volleyball Pathway to create athletes with podium potential  

• The new season saw England teams get their Beach Pro Tour seasons underway, with Daisy Mumby and Kirsty Star winning a first silver medal by a British pair in Australia and the Bello brothers appearing in the Elite 16 events in Mexico and Brazil. 

Develop a robust Indoor Volleyball Pathway to create and select the Athletes with the highest Podium Potential. 

• The England Senior Men and Women fielded teams in both the Five Nations Championships 2025 and the Novotel Cup in January, enabling several younger to make their England debuts and the opportunity for coaches to build their experience. 

• England won the inaugural Dr Don Anthony Trophy as the best-performing nation across both genders at the Five Nations Championships 2025. 

• A squad of U18 women travelled to Romania in February for a mixture of training and competition.  

 

Coming up in Q1 (April, May and June): 

• The U18, U20, and Seniors will take part in training camps at the NVC in April, with the U22 readying themselves for Euro qualification in Italy in July. 

• Beach national team camps will be held in May to identify and prepare the England U18 and U20 teams for this year’s NEVZA Junior Beach tournament taking place in July.  

AN ACE SERVICE  

High quality domestic and international events. 

 

Achievements: 

• NVL Team Self-Report was initiated with 100% of teams responding. It will help raise standards and identify teams that need support in the coming years. 

• The fifth and final Super League Live event of the season was completed, with feedback indicating that it is helping to build the brand and professionalise the league. 

• The domestic competition structure continues to evolve and grow, with Junior Grand Prix Series seeing a significant increase in teams entered and number of players taking part.

 

Coming up in Q1 (April, May and June): 

• April and May sees the conclusion of the English domestic season, including Final 4, Cup Finals and Inter Regionals. 

• The hosting of the NEVZA Beach Championships 2025 (Senior, U20 and U18) will be staged at the end of June and start of July in Bridlington. 

• Meeting of the Super League teams on 10th May to continue to forge a pathway towards professionalising the league. 

 

A RESPECTED AND VALUED NGB  

Achievements: 

• Deal signed with Kukri Sports for them to become Volleyball England’s new official apparel supplier. 

• Luis Bello appointed as Beach Performance Coach. 

• A collaboration with the That Volleyball Guy Podcast has seen new podcasts The Super League Time Out Show, Digging Deeper and The Heritage Show launched. 

• The People Plan and Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan (DIAP) were released. 

• The Heritage Working Group have started the process of digitising historical publications ahead of the organisation’s 70th anniversary and are seeking volunteers to create a digital archive. 

• The 2025-26 Operation Plan and budgets were confirmed by the board. 

• A new Volleyball England Safeguarding Children and Adults in Volleyball course has been created and is now available online. 

 

Coming up in Q1 (April, May and June): 

• Chair and board recruitment and Annual General Meeting on 19th July in Loughborough. 

• Opening of the Indoor Beach Centre at Birmingham City University (BCU) and launch of the Beach High Performance Programme. 

• The Volleyball England Environmental Sustainability Plan to be approved and launched.