The Game Plan - quarter three updates (from October to December 2023)

The latest achievements in relation to Volleyball England's strategic plan.

GET. KEEP. GROW  

Connected and stronger regions, counties, clubs and stakeholders: 

•  VolleyZone has 8,200 individual registrations on the system and also 400 affiliated clubs. Questions have been included within the ‘Club Survey’ to guide the ongoing development discussions with SportLoMo.  
• The launch of the 2023-24 Annual Club Survey has taken place, which will help guide the Club support for the next 12 months. Click here to fill in the survey.
• The first Sitting Volleyball joint Working Group meeting took place with the VEF and BVF, improving connectivity across the discipline.
• The Regions and Counties Community of Practice session was joined by Club Matters (now renamed Buddle). This was followed by a health check guide to support those committees looking to strengthen their governance and succession planning.   

What’s coming in Q4 (Jan, Feb and March) 

• More club workshops. Click here to see the calendar. 
• Annual Awards open for nominations in mid-January. Click here to nominate. 

VOLLEYBALL FOR LIFE  

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

• A total of 123 people have passed the Grade 4 Referees’ Course and 52 people have passed the Assistant Coach Award Course. 
• New Coaching Awards Recognition of Prior Learning Policy has been published. Click here to view.
• Referee Observer Training took place in October, with 27 Grade 2 and above referees attending, led by Peter Parsons and supported by Glynn Archibald. 
• Kirk Pitman, Mark Kontopoulos and Sam Dunbavin have been named to deliver the first Coach Award (Beach) on 11th and 12th May 2024 at the NVC. Click here for details. 
• England’s Cadet Girls finished third at the NEVZA U17 competition, earning a place in the second round of CEV European Championships U18 qualification in April. 
• Three Futures Foundation and Evolutions camps have taken place at Kettering.
• The Junior Coach’s collaborative community on Facebook continues to grow, with more than 170 coaches now signed up.
• The England Senior Indoor Men won the Novotel Cup for the first time in December, defeating Austria (world-ranked 48th), Luxembourg (world-ranked 74th) and France U18.
• England’s top-ranked Beach Volleyball pairing, Javier and Joaquin Bello, took bronze at the Beach Pro Tour Challenge in Goa, India and fourth at the FIVB Challenge event in Nuvali, Philippines. 

What’s coming in Q4 (Jan, Feb, March ) 

• Member consultation will take place on The People Plan before the end of March. 
• Announcement of England Senior Men and Senior Women coaches. 
• Easter Cadets Talent Camp to be staged in Kettering at the end of March.

AN ACE SERVICE  

High quality domestic and international events:  

• The inaugural Super League Opening Weekend took place, with 500,000 video views on Instagram, along with 10.5k streams (men) and 5.3k streams (women) on YouTube. 
• MAAREE have been announced as headline sponsor of the Volleyball England Women's Super League. Click here to view story. 
• Errea Team and Player of the Month launched, using videos and graphics from the HUDL analysis system, that has driven engagement. Click here to view story. 
• The second (October) and third (December) Sitting Volleyball Grand Prix have been contested at the National Volleyball Centre, attended by 10 teams and nine teams respectively.  
  
• Entries for the Student Cup have shown a 26% growth from last year. 
• A competition management iFrame has been created for Regions and Counties to automatically draw the competition fixtures and results through to their websites. 

What’s coming in Q4 (Jan, Feb, March) 

• A new web page from which to buy Cup Finals tickets will be published. 
• Delivery of Student Cup Finals, Junior Last 8s events and final two Sitting Grand Prix of the season. 

A RESPECTED AND VALUED NGB  

• Volleyball England received the highest rating at the annual safeguarding compliance meeting with the Child Protection In Sport Unit (CPSU). 
  The 18-month Sport England reporting and meetings were completed satisfactorily. 
• A new Volleyball England TikTok account was launched ahead of Opening Weekend and has so far attracted more than 1,300 followers. Click here to view the account. 
• Volleyball England’s 2022-23 Accounts were submitted to Companies House. 
  The NEVZA EGM took place in December, where Volleyball England presented the findings from the NEVZA-wide survey which will help guide the 2024-25 focal areas.  

What’s coming in Q4 (Jan, Feb, March) 

• Finalising of budgets and confirming activity for the 2024-25 Operational Plan. 
• AGM planning and early community engagement. 
• The Safeguarding Adults Policy will be published on the website.