Volleyball Ireland’s School Competition programme has maintained a steady participation rate for the third successive year with 923 teams participating in the 2019/20 season.
Volleyball Development Officer and Schools Competition lead Conor Flood said, “Based on feedback from teachers we’ve revamped and re-structured the school competition structure with more fun events for younger players and phasing out of spikeball for 13year olds. We are transitioning more to a mini volleyball system at that age group which give players more relevant skills for enjoying life long participation in the sport.”
Notes:
- For player development purposes we are phasing out Spikeball at 2nd year in Secondary School and transitioning to Mini Volleyball, hence a significant fluctuation in participation on those two programmes.
- At primary school level the Spikeball Competition has been replaced with ‘The Spikeball Tour’ which is an entry level fun based participation event, rather than a formal competition. This is particularly popular with new players, and better promotes the inclusive nature of Volleyball.
- Furthermore, we have introduced a Mini Volleyball competition at primary level for more advanced players, hence the reduction in Spikeball Competition numbers and an increase in the fun tour and mini volleyball programmes.
- The Special Schools programme, introduced in 2018/19 has not yet been delivered this year. It is planned for after the Easter mid term break. Numbers are projections for this.
- The CEV Schools Project may yet see a further increase in numbers before the school year ends, dependant on the current Covid19 situation.
- In the Secondary School Competitions, some teams may be double counted as they enter both league and cup competitions.
