Since working towards and achieving Volley 1 accreditation, Newbury Volleyball Club has been striving to be involved in developments within the sport, in alignment with Volleyball England’s (the National Governing body), guidelines.

Newbury have targeted various different grants to fund new ideas and projects for the club in the community, involving local schools and the coaches and players development within the club. Already the club promotes themselves through their website and local press as well as monthly newsletters with their members and partners.

Linking with sports websites in the area and with the Berkshire Sports Partnership is helping to establish links with schools.

Newbury’s next project is to arrange a taster session for Sitting Volleyball, the Paralympics sport for athletes with a disability. The sport is a great integrative variation of Volleyball, with able-bodied and disabled players being able to play together. Newbury have been in contact with the Berkshire Disability Sports Officer and a special Sitting Volleyball coach and are hoping to set a date for the session in the new-year at the school involved as well as get one of their own coaches on a disability coaching course to continue the momentum of the taster session.

The club has trialled adults playing Sitting Volleyball as preparation for inclusion of athletes with a disability. They learned a great deal from the experience including the need for more precision in passing, better handling skills and an appreciation of the adaptation of the skill sets used in Volleyball for Sitting Volleyball so players can compete in the fast paced sport. There are specific rules which players have to familiarise with, the sitting positions allowed for legal shots and the issues of reach, flexibility, balance, body position, movement and recovery are all aspects of the game.

Recruiting a player with a bone disorder, requiring her to sit, taught players from the club techniques of movement which she adopted from adaptations she made in every day life. Another young player with a diagnosis of ADHD taught their coaches about breaking practices down into smaller chunks, constant thematic development, focussing concentration and motivation. These are desirable techniques for any coach who is working with younger players to acquire and use generally. The player’s involvement led to the club developing a structured certification scheme for improving skill levels and they now use this with all of their 9-15 year olds.

The variety of players the club is working with, with various disabilities and learning difficulties had embodied the players’ and coaches’ skills on playing with others, building confidence and skill sets in a variety of players and developing their own skills through this. Newbury believe all clubs and coaches should be ‘up for new challenges’ otherwise they cannot progress and contribute to their local community. “Improving inclusiveness will bring bonuses to any club. What you can learn about yourself, others and communications will help you to recruit and retain players from any minority background” says Sue Sayers, Newbury VC Secretary.

For more information about Sitting Volleyball, Volleyball and Beach Volleyball in communities, please visit www.volleyballengland.org