Congratulations to all associates of Richmond Volleyball - now officially accredited Volley 1 Clubmark under Volleyball England's Volley 1-2-3 programme !

Richmond Volleyball (formerly Whitton VC) started in 1994 and is based in the London Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames. From a small group of casual players, meeting on Sundays in Whitton School, Richmond has grown into a big volleyball community with more than 200 people playing volleyball in various leagues and competitions.

The aim of the club is to promote volleyball by bringing athletes, coaches, and the local community together to foster a distinctive culture of excellence by integrating sport, competition, training and education. Players have opportunities to compete locally (u14 and u16 Richmond Schools Competitive Edge Programme), regionally (London and Surrey Leagues) and nationally (National Junior Championships, BUSA and BCSA). Currently Richmond has 5 junior teams, 3 university teams and 2 senior adult teams. There are plans for the next season to add 2 more junior teams of a younger age group and 2 elite teams in the National Volleyball League.

The real breakthrough in raising the profile of volleyball in the Borough and involvement in larger scale community sport development occurred in 2006 when the Club joined the Competitive Edge Programme, a unique and successful initiative which embraces all secondary schools in the borough and focuses on providing school children with competitive opportunities. Dedication and professionalism in delivery of an introductory volleyball programme by Richmond coaches has got a fantastic response from teachers and students and led to school curriculum volleyball, inspired several after school clubs and helped in establishing weekly junior sessions. Enquiries from primary schools have followed and now Richmond Volleyball is ready to expand the programme into link schools during the summer term. Richmond Volleyball is now deservedly viewed as one of four junior development strongholds in London.

Richmond Volleyball's success story is based on focusing on local volleyball and building strong relationships with several key community partners such as St Mary's University College, Kingston University, Richmond College, Kingston College, Richmond Schools Sport Partnership, Richmond Council and Sport Richmond. Through efficient collaboration with partners and continuous support and commitment Richmond Volleyball has been able in a short period to reach further and to achieve more than initial plans. Naturally, an ambitious vision and vast growth would not have been achieved without hard work by a group of devoted and enthusiastic club volunteers. Everyone at the club sincerely thanks all who helped Richmond Volleyball to get firmly rooted in the local sport community as a true club for all.

On a wider scale Richmond Volleyball has been an active member within the South London Regional Partnership which incorporates areas such as Kingston-upon-Thames, Wimbledon, Sutton and Croydon. Recently the club was involved in discussions on creating structured school volleyball competion opportunities with the view to extending the Richmond model to other boroughs.

For more information on Richmond Volleyball go to www.richmondvolleyball.co.uk