Sports Management Q2 2012 - Leisure Opportunities

Above: TeamGB volleyball playersShauna Mullin and Zara Dampney.Below: Malorey Eagles captain RichardDobell at the Men’s National Cup Finalwith the dedicated grassroots website,gospike.net, receiving more than 9,000visitors. More than 5,000 people haveturned up to Go Spike sessions and ourvolleyball ‘Game In A Bag’, has been sopopular that we have been able to retailit on the Volleyball England website.Life’s a beachSitting within the Go Spike campaign,Volleyball England launched its ‘BeachVolleyball Capital Investment Initiative’to increase participants and spectatorsin beach sports, with funding for beachcourts across England. The NGB aims tobuild 10 permanent multi-court beachcentres by 2013. Partner funded, theselocal, permanent beach developmentprojects are part of a legacy programmefor the sport which aims to: Expose more people to beach sportsas both spectators and participants Provide opportunities for more peopleto follow up their initial experience andplay beach volleyball regularly. Significantly improve the experiencefor those already playing regularly byenhancing services and reducing traveltime to volleyball venues.Speaking about the second round ofthe initiative, Craig Handford, head oftechnical development and excel for VolleyballEngland, said: “We’ve alreadydeveloped four permanent multi-courtcentres as a result of the funding; eachproviding fantastic examples of howthe initiative can transform a site andbreathe new life into under-used facilities,increase participation in sport andphysical activity and create a legacyfrom the Games.”As part of the initiative, the organisationproduced a ‘Development of BeachVolleyball Courts’ – a document whichdetails conversion and modificationmethods of under-used public areas intosand courts. This gives leisure sites officialguidance on how to safely convert publicareas into sand courts and facilities insustainable and cost effective ways.New talentWhile Go Spike is targeted at the 16-plusmarket, specific campaigns aimed at attractingyounger players to the sportsuch as ‘Let’s Play Volleyball’ continue tobring new players to the court. The Let’sPlay Volleyball National Youth VolleyballProgramme is a holistic developmentmodel designed to encourage youngpeople (aged five to 16 years) to experienceand enjoy the sport as a player,competitor, leader, coach or referee.On the court, Let’s Play Volleyball isa game-based session whereby a smallsidedapproach is used to take youngplayers sequentially through the essentialskills required to become a competentvolleyball player, developing gameunderstanding and sport specific techniquesin parallel.Volleyball England also works withschools nationwide to encourage childrenand young people to get involvedin the sport. The School-Club strategyfocuses on activity and takes place outsideIssue 2 2012 © cybertrek 2012 Read Sports Management online sportsmanagement.co.uk/digital 45