Double-header set to grow the game

The Australian Volleyball League will return to Albany this weekend after the success of last year’s fixture at the Albany Leisure and Aquatic Centre.

Last year’s was the first AVL match to be played in regional WA and featured some of the country’s top players showing off their skills in front of a strong crowd.

This weekend the WA men’s and women’s teams are set to take on the Uni Blues in a double-header on Saturday night and Sunday morning at ALAC.

Albany Volleyball Association tournament director Scott Leary said Volleyball WA had decided to return to Albany after a strong response to last year’s visit.

“Because of the turnout that we had and the support from the sponsors and the local community, that is one of the reasons why it is back,” he said.

“The spin-off, as regards to the junior introductions and from a development point of view, hit all the benchmarks.”

Players from both WA teams, along with Volleyball WA coaches and referees, will visit five schools in Albany on Friday to deliver development and coaching clinics.

There will also be junior development workshops on Saturday morning before the AVL fixtures in the afternoon. Leary said there was significant growth in the AVA’s junior membership after last year’s AVL matches and they were hoping to continue that growth this year.

“Based on that tournament being here last year, our numbers actually grew 20 per cent in the junior ranks,” Leary said.

“When they get exposure to an event like this and they can see it played at the best possible level, it’s huge.

“We’ll jump on the back of the momentum that this generates again just to expose people to the sport.”

On Saturday, the women’s match will start at 4pm and the men’s at 6pm, while on Sunday, the women will start at 9.30am and the men at 10.45am.

The junior workshops will run from 9.30-11am on Saturday.