Dear Member,
There are over 60 National Governing Bodies of Sport recognised by Sport Ireland.
To be named as the Irish Sport Industry NGB of the Year was a monumental achievement for Volleyball Ireland, and is testament to the hard work, excellence and innovation of our staff, board, commissions, clubs and national team programmes. That recognition back in May was a pure team effort right across our community.
It was important to re-start our sport strongly following the Covid pandemic and to re-capture the interest in the game. Quality events like the St. Patrick’s Challenge and the u20 Men’s Small Countries Association Championships really raised the profile of the sport nationally and across Europe.
We want to create the events that inspire the next generation of players. The atmosphere at those events was brilliant and we can’t wait to replicate that with the Association Cup Final and the new National League Grand Finals this Spring as we take our club tournaments to the next level.
Major events help grow interest in the game and they open doors for national and international support, as well as helping attract commercial sponsors. Expect a big announcement in January….
A personal highlight of mine was the u20 team winning a thrilling 5-setter with Northern Ireland on that Wednesday evening in April. The sheer joy and exhilaration of the players, coaches and supporters when that last point was won is what is beautiful about sport. More importantly, seeing the players from Ireland, Northern Ireland, Luxembourg and Andorra mix, mingle and dance together after the event was even more warming. Building friendships and memories that will last a lifetime.
A week earlier our u19 girls claimed Ireland’s first underage medal with a brilliant silver medal in Luxembourg.
We have invested a lot of time in our underage national team programmes because it’s important to demonstrate there is a pathway in the sport. To do it properly we need to have ambition and challenge ourselves against the best. It doesn’t get much more ambitious than taking on the World Champions, so to see Ireland play against Italy in Rome was a huge step forward for our development. And even if it only lasted one point, we can say that Ireland were beating the best in the world!
Off court, we used the opportunity to develop a relationship with the Italian Federation, which will see an innovative partnership taking shape in 2023. This is very exciting and a brilliant opportunity for us to learn from the planet’s best youth development programme.
We also took part in our first International youth Beach Volleyball event with boys and girls teams claiming bronze in Wales. Again, another step forward building a pathway and interest on the sand.
It’s fair to say Spring and early Summer was a busy time as we crowned our first National League Champions in three years with UCD and Gardians claiming the top honours and Cork Volleyball Academy and Galway winning the Youth National Leagues.
There is a real camaraderie and togetherness in the Irish Volleyball community, and to see almost 200 people socialising together at the Awards Evening in Dublin was fantastic – I think it was the best yet.
It is widely regarded in the sport industry that Volleyball led on Ukrainian Refugee supports – not just with nice social media posts but with proper help to remove barriers to participation. I really want to thank the clubs and people that went above and beyond to welcome our new friends into your hearts and homes. I know that your kindness has made an incredible difference to what is an unimaginably difficult time for many people.
What has become apparent since indoor Volleyball re-started after the pandemic in late 2021, is that our challenges have changed. Previously, the issue was a lack of children playing Volleyball – now the challenge is meeting the demand.
At the end of December 2018, we had 166 u18 players licensed to play in Volleyball Ireland club competitions. Four years on, with a 2-year indoor sport hiatus in the middle, we have 614 under 18s playing competitive Volleyball. That doesn’t tell the full story. We had 702 School teams competing in tournaments and a significant number of our youth clubs now have waiting lists.
Establishing the youth boys national league and regional development leagues for men and women has been a vital step to retain and develop young players, giving them a competition outlet to showcase their skills.
Our clubs that are leading this growth have been supported with over 75k in youth development funding, which was the largest investment ever made in our club network. We will continue to invest in clubs that are growing youth volleyball and leading on inclusion.
In 2023, more support will be given to clubs with a keen focus on recruiting, supporting and investing in volunteers across the community. We started this work in 2022, with our first Volleyball Conference – VLY. Live with Internationally regarded Coaches & Referees providing fantastic workshops down at Limerick.
We’ve also provided all licensed referees and coaches with free uniforms and a license for the online education service Art of Coaching Volleyball.
Like with players, we need to have a clear pathway for Referees and Coaches to aspire to. The latter is a work in progress but introducing Coach of the Year Awards to the Annual Awards evening is a starting point to show our appreciation and recognition of excellence in this area.
I was delighted that Giordano Dos Santos completed his FIVB International Referee course and is now a regular at Champions League and International events, whilst Aurelien Gimenez is one of only 18 newly qualified International Beach Referees.
Domestically, the newly formed Referees Management Group in partnership with the Education & Training Commission are working hard to assess and mentor referees in the club game. So much more is happening in this area and expect to see more of this vital work in 2023.
If you’re spending the next few days plotting your New Year’s resolution; consider becoming a Volleyball Coach or Referee. It is a rewarding vocation, and there is a clear pathway and education programme developing to support you.
On a more sombre note, the Volleyball community has recently lost two of it’s loved ones in Tony McCrossan and Mary Lalor. The outpouring of kind messages on our social media channels and email inbox for both of them has been astounding. Their contribution to our sport has touched so many lives and both leave a brilliant legacy which they’ll always be fondly remembered.
Finally, I want to thank our dedicated staff, visionary board led expertly by Clodagh and volunteers in all corners of the community that have made our sport the best in Ireland. As proud as I am for Volleyball to win that NGB of the Year award back in May, I can’t help thinking we are only really peeling back the edges in terms of our potential for growth both on court and off. There is so much to come in 2023 and beyond as we launch our new strategic plan.
I wish you all a very happy new year and the best of luck for your Volleyball endeavours in 2023.
My Kindest Wishes,
Gary
Gary Stewart | Chief Executive
