Volleyball Ireland Secures 71k

In light of the current Covid 19 restrictions, The Competitions & Development Commission of Volleyball Ireland, approved by the Board of Administration, have amended the schedule for the remainder of the 2020/21 National Volleyball League.

Covid restrictions pending, the season will revert to a seven match system, with teams playing each other once only, rather than the traditional home and away format. Fixtures for National League weeks 2-8 of the season calendar are therefore expunged. The season will resume with remaining National League week 1 matches to be played on either the December catch-up weekend (19th/20th) or National League Week 8 (January 9th/10th). Normal fixtures will resume from National League Week 9 (January 23rd/24th). The usual process applies for the rescheduling of fixtures.

Please note that this schedule is subject to Government restrictions, with a Level 2 status currently required for indoor club training and matches to reconvene.

The new schedule will result in an imbalance between home and away fixtures, with clubs either playing 3 or 4 home/away matches. In a very small number of instances some teams will play 5 home/away matches, the Commission will engage directly with clubs who are scheduled to play five home or away matches in regards to the balancing of costs associated with hosting an increased ratio of fixtures. Clubs are reminded that home teams must pay referee fees.

As it stands, the Association Cup will be played in 2021. An expression of interest note has been circulated to clubs in advance of this communication. A decision on the Championships will be made in due course, and will be dependant on Government restrictions related to indoor event numbers.
Volleyball Ireland requests that if clubs are having or expecting issues with hall availability please contact both The National League Management Committee (competitions@volleyballireland.com) and Mark Leonard-Doyle (info@volleyballireland.com) at the earliest opportunity.
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We’d like to thank all clubs, members and volunteers for their patience during this time, and hopefully welcome you back on court in the New Year.

Volleyball Ireland are delighted to announce that the FIVB – the world governing body for Volleyball, is to support an exciting advanced coach education project in 2021.

The project will partner a FIVB approved International Coach Tutor with Ireland’s most progressive coaches in a range of educational workshops, seminars and practical sessions, that will cover a variety of technical coaching topics. The programme will compliment a number of new education initiatives to be rolled out in-line with Volleyball Ireland’s new Long Term Player Development Model.

Volleyball Ireland Coach Education & Player Pathways Coordinator Conor Flood explained more, “Developing our coach education programme and menu of learning initiatives is a key part of our strategy, and this project will have a direct impact on coach and player development. The FIVB support will allow us to bring a world class coach tutor to Ireland to share their experiences, knowledge and ideas. The programme will coincide with a performance camp for young players, meaning coaches can put the theory into action straight away, as well as giving our junior volleyballers more high level training opportunities.”

Naturally the project is ‘covid pending’ with more information to be published in the new year.

Volleyball Ireland would like to thank the FIVB in particular President Dr. Ary S Graca, and the Projects Platform team including Hitesh Malhotra and Steve Tutton.

Volleyball Ireland are delighted to announce that Maja Poljak will be taking part in the next instalment of the Virtual Volleyball Inspiring Players Q&A.

The Croatian star is widely considered the best middle blocker of all time and was recently voted into the European Team of the Decade, after an unrivalled career that saw her claim 4 x CEV Champions League winners medals, adding the FIVB World Club Championship to her medal haul.

Poljak who has won titles in the Turkish, Italian and Russian Leagues will be joining Volleyball Ireland for the 1hour session at 8pm (Irish Time, 9pm CET) on Thursday November 12th. The Q&A event will be broadcast live on the Volleyball Ireland YouTube channel.

Maja will be discussing her time with Dinamo Moscow, Volley Bergamo and Vakifbank Istanbul as well as her Silver medal in the 1999 European Championship with Croatia.

If you have any questions for Maja you can drop them to gm@volleyballireland.com

​Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport & Media, Catherine Martin TD and Minister of State for Sport and Gaeltacht Affairs, Jack Chambers TD, today announced an unprecedented €85 million funding package for the Irish sport sector, which has been significantly impacted by the various Covid-19 restrictions imposed since March 2020.

The funding being allocated today by Sport Ireland will address the existential threat to National Governing Bodies and their club networks, allowing sports organisations to off-set significant losses incurred in recent months and add a semblance of certainty to planning for 2021.

The significant investment will reach all levels of the sport sector with National Governing Bodies, Local Sports Partnerships and thousands of grassroots clubs across Ireland set to benefit.

Of the funding support provided, €71,500 has been provided to Volleyball Ireland, across two schemes.

Innovation Funding Scheme:
50k has been secured to deliver a nationwide outdoor volleyball posts project that will see at least fifteen permanent, free to use courts established on beaches and in public parks across Ireland.

Commenting on the announcement, Volleyball Ireland President Grainne Culliton said, “We are delighted with the funding allocation that will help us deliver a really ambitious project. Volleyball is a sport for all and by providing free to use courts across Ireland we can remove some of the traditional barriers to participation and allow the whole community to just turn up and play our wonderful sport. We think this could be a game changer for promoting, developing and growing volleyball here in Ireland.”

The Innovation Funding Scheme had strict criteria with applicants expecting to show how projects could deliver sport and physical activity in a Covid-19 environment. Volleyball Ireland’s project facilitates outdoor, socially distanced activity that can be played by families and social bubbles.

Each set of posts will be branded with QR codes linked to Volleyball Ireland’s find a club webpage, which will help raise awareness of Volleyball clubs and activities. Installing posts on the sand will help promote the Beach format of the game and allow more frequent social beach volleyball activity – having access to a net system and the time to dig holes and put portable nets up is a key barrier to participation which this project will overcome.

Working collaboratively with Local Sports Partnerships, Volleyball Ireland will provide Social Volley Activator Training for volleyball enthusiasts to organise fun sessions in parks and on the sand. Grainne added, “We are really grateful to our partners in Local Authorities who have supported this ambition and shared our vision from the outset, we can’t wait to see the impact this will have.”

Club Resilience Support Scheme:
21,500k has been secured to support Volleyball Ireland’s member clubs re-start Volleyball activity. The successful application was evidence based with Volleyball clubs submitting financial and impact statements related to Covid 19. Volleyball Ireland Development Coordinator and lead Covid Officer Norma McIntyre added, “the information provided by clubs was vital in helping us build this application and demonstrate the need for supporting our club network. Since the pandemic began clubs and volunteers have gone above and beyond to deliver safe volleyball activity and we expect this funding will really help our clubs re-start activities in the New Year.” This support will be delivered through an internal VI grants scheme, details of which will be provided to clubs in the coming weeks.

Volleyball Ireland would like to put on record it’s thanks to Minister Catherine Martin TD and Minister Jack Chambers, as well as the teams at Sport Ireland and the Dept. of Sport for their continued support.