2022/23 Impact REPORT

Thank you to all our supporters

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Our year in review

foundation trustees

We have said good-bye to two of our Trustees, Bev Ward and Steve Schindler. They have been a huge asset to the Foundation we will miss them, but wish them all the best in their next chapter.

Aston Villa Project

The Aston Villa Project, funded by the Sport England E&D fund, has been delivered by 15 Aston Villa Foundation coaches with training by Nick Shaffery to deliver 2v2 volleyball in primary school and in their holiday programme, across Birmingham in some of the most deprived areas in the country.

In the last 12 months over 2000 children have had an experience of volleyball for the first time.

The project has been given 300 volleyballs and these are going into schools so they can continue to deliver volleyball in both curriculum and as an extracurricular activity.

Numbers - 2000 participants – 15 coaches – 300 balls – 9 outdoor net systems.

Afghan ladies

Working with Kirklees Council and Leeds Gorse to provide a group of Afghan refugee women with an opportunity to improve their physical and mental wellbeing by playing volleyball.

Volleyball England donated 10 of the Birmingham 2022 balls to the project.

Number – 20 refugees ladies = 10 balls

LGBTQ+ Project

The LGBTQ+ project has been working with clubs to understand the barriers faced by LGBTQ+ individuals when taking part in Volleyball.

The goal of this project is to create an inclusive culture in volleyball, working with clubs to provide the knowledge and resources to create positive environments for LGBTQ+ players through a 5-Stage Programme.

The project is working with 6 community clubs to identify good practice and develop an e-learning platform which will be shared across the volleyball network to promote inclusion.

Supporting the Birmingham 2022 young volunteers

The Foundation held a fundraising event to support the 20 young people and their chaperones who were volunteering at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The volunteers came from the following clubs- Ashfield Vipers, Tettenhall Tigers, Tamworth Spartans, Coventry and Warwick Riga and Nuneaton VCs. The funding helped to cover travelling and training costs for the volunteers.

Numbers - £1200 raised – 20 young volunteers trained.

Fundraising and donations

Christmas Auction and Fundraising

Once again, the Christmas Auction helped to raise funds for the Volleyball Community, the auction raised £1100. Special thanks to all those who donated including Dryrobe, Steroplast and Sportset.

We were fortunate to receive 2 grants to support Sitting Volleyball from the Bruce Wake Foundation and Arnold Clark. We were very grateful for the support of clubs, events and individuals that helped us raise over £4500 in donations.

We have also supported 12 community clubs to find funding through grant applications.

Support to players on the player pathway.

The Foundation has been using our ‘Just Giving’ page to support young athletes on the

performance pathway. In the last 12 months 2 athletes have had access to our Just Giving page and over £2,600 has been raised by donations from friends and family to support these athletes.

Numbers 2 Athletes - funding £2600

New joiners