News
The Way Forward 2010 to 2014 -
we our more than a volleyball club - we are a leading community sports club!
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19th Feb 2010
A message from Club Chairman David Rijvers.
2009 has been another massively successful year for volleyball in South West London. With the support of Richmond Volleyball (a club mark 2 club) in the community we've achieved a fantastic milestone with
nearly 4,000 people playing with RVC
(an increase of 100% from 2008) in varies inclusive programmes such: community events, schools & juniors, further education & higher education, local league, regional league and elite (national) men and women, developing the dynamic Olympic team sport in Richmond, Kingston, Hounslow and North Surrey thus ensuring that volleyball can continue to flourish with lots of opportunities to experience the fast paced and action packed game.
Richmond Volleyball has revealed the new challenges that the club executives’ face in running a leading English Volleyball Club (Winners 2009 CCPR UK Sports Club of the Year) and our plans for Richmond Volleyball Community programme is to continue building on the good work that the club has done over the last four years and continue to grow, enhance and sustain our varies programmes.
Our vision for 2010-14 is to build a strong elite platform, to be a leading community club, have 8,000 people playing with RVC and to create an infrastructure with a sustainable legacy.
Since starting Richmond Volleyball and getting to grips with all the aspects of running a vibrant community sports club this has been surprising complex along with the usual components of running a business. Firstly the club could not function without the enormous time and effort put in for free by volunteers. Volunteers make up by far the largest group of staff and are involved in everything from team administration, national (NVL) and regional (RVL) and local (SLVL) league match day operations (ie. court set-up, line judges, scorers, match programme etc) , to event organization, coaching, washing the kits, web site maintenance, fund raising, weekly press releases and marketing. Thank you to all the volunteers.
Although the volunteers are the largest group another vital group has been the club executives who put in the hours way beyond their duties and do it under very difficult circumstance and constantly with an eye on the tight budget. The team has managed to put out a National League Men’s team, 4 regional men & women teams, 23 local teams and 6 junior teams competing in national junior cup competitions. They have also set up four junior hub clubs and recruited several new coaches to further strengthen the junior development programme. They have also created and delivered numerous events to engage the community, such as: 4v4 Grand Slam, International Festival Tournament, Corporate Tournament, Summer League, Play Sport London, Sitting Volleyball Festivals, Richmond Cup, Love 2, Junior Summer Camps, UKCC Coaching & Refereeing courses, South London Volleyball League and developed links with professional volleyball clubs: Verona Volleyball (Italy) and Victoria Olympic Reserve (RUSSIA).
The most visible part of the club is the Men’s National League team and to many people this is all they know about Richmond Volleyball. I usually describe the club as being like an iceberg: what you see on the surface is only a small part of the whole. The
junior development programme
includes six national teams at under u15, u16 and u18 boys and girls as well as four Premier League 4 Sport junior hub clubs (Tiffin Boys, Chessington School, Coombe Girls and London Oratory) , each with teams at 14, 15, 16, & 18. All of these teams will hopefully play in the South London Volleyball League for 2010/11 season. We also coach 30 secondary schools throughout Richmond, Kingston, Hounslow and North Surrey linked with the School Sport Partnerships and South London Pro-Active team.
Some 1,700 young people were coached by Richmond Volleyball in 2009.
We do so much good work in the Community that Richmond Volleyball is looking to apply for charitable status and soon I hope to be able to announce the formation of the Richmond Volleyball Community Foundation, aimed at educating local children through volleyball in the benefits of exercise and healthy living and the danger of alcohol and substance abuse.
When the executives took on the task of running the club we honestly did not know what to expect. I knew like all business we would have to make some difficult decisions but that goes with the territory. What we did not expect was the incredible support we have received from the people who love Richmond Volleyball Club. I hope of course, for success. Not just for the National League teams and not just for every team that play with Richmond Volleyball logo on their shirts. I hope our plan to give our club the strongest foundation is successful and Richmond Volleyball will be seen as a winning club nationally and locally and a strong contributor to our community for many years to come.
Sport Matters! Thank you to our volunteers, members, fans and partners for being involved with Richmond Volleyball and building a leading community sports club!
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