Eight venues, including Yellowave in Brighton, have been chosen by Volleyball England to become beach volleyball “development centres” to help strengthen the sport and attract more players.
Development programmes at each venue will aim to encourage more people to take to the sand on a regular basis over the coming years, with the most talented nurtured to help them progress through the levels.
Alongside that, there is an ambition to establish an improved framework of competitions that helps to retain people in beach volleyball, encourage co-operation with local clubs and ensure clearly defined pathways for coaches, officials and volunteers as well as players.
Katie Mintram, director of Yellowave, said: “We are delighted to be chosen as one of the eight dedicated Volleyball England beach volleyball development centres.
“We have a hugely successful community of players, some of which play on the national beach tour plus two of our youth players who play internationally, having been selected to represent England just last summer.
“Our focus is to continue our development work for all our youngsters who start playing as young as five years old.
“Becoming a development centre means access to additional resources and the sharing of knowledge from some of the top coaches in the UK allowing us to offer an improved pathway for those who strive to play at a high level – plus the chance to host and compete at inter club events with our academy and senior squads representing Brighton and Hove.
“Later this year, we are hoping to host a city-wide secondary school tournament to give more children of all abilities a chance to play beach volleyball in Brighton, whilst also allowing our coaches to scout for raw beach volleyball talent.
“As the first beach volleyball centre of its kind, when we opened our doors 17 years ago, we feel we can continue to provide Brighton and Hove and the south coast a fantastic centre, open to all.”
Beach volleyball has gained popularity over recent years and was boosted by English pair Javier and Joaquin Bello winning a bronze medal at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, an achievement they followed up on last year with a quarter-final place at EuroBeach Volley in Vienna.
Volleyball England’s beach performance director Kirk Pitman, who is a former player and coached Australia at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, hopes centres such as Yellowave can help produce the stars of the future.
He said: “The idea is to create an environment and the opportunities for athletes to really develop their skills and ultimately help them to become better players.
“These centres will give more young players more time on the sand on a regular basis, starting from an earlier age, without the need to travel as far to get it.
“We want to share knowledge and skills across the centres, not only for the benefit of athletes but for the benefit of the coaches as well.
“We want to bring players through who can compete internationally at the top level and hopefully the combination of things we are planning can pay off with a bright future.
“We’d also like to have a higher profile for the sport and get players performing well in the junior competitions.”
Each venue will have a head coach assigned who will work on their plans that take into account their respective areas, with a strong emphasis on collaboration with local clubs put in place.
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Source: www.theargus.co.uk
This notice was published: 2024-01-02 05:07:00
