Providing 6 Volleyball Beach Development Centres with a Grant!
During the summer, we provided 6 of the Volleyball Beach Development Centres (BVDC) with a grant. This was given to support the delivery of beach volleyball to a wide range of young people in their surrounding area, who possibly wouldn't have the opportunity without our support.
Yellowave was one of the 6 to receive funds from VEF this summer. They used their funds to run a Beach Volleyball Tournament for schools in and around Brighton.
A bit of background on Yellowave for those who don’t know…
Yellowave Beach Sports Venue opened in March 2007. It was set up by Katie, her husband Spencer and her dad Alan. As a beach volleyball player Katie was determined to re-create the beach lifestyle she’d experienced after living in Huntington Beach, California and Manly Beach, Australia. Katie, Spencer and Alan set up Yellowave Ltd in 2002. It took 5 years to develop from the first meeting to opening the doors in 2007. It’s the first centre of its kind in the UK with a dedicated team passionate about beach volleyball and sand based sports.
In 2023 Yellowave was selected by Volleyball England as a national centre for beach volleyball development.
We’re sure you’ll agree that these guys were a worthy winner for the grant!
In their words…
“Thanks so much for the support from the Volleyball England Foundation and for the opportunity to share the impact of this year’s grant.
It’s been a brilliant season for our youth development programme. The funding we received allowed us to run our City-Wide Secondary Schools Tournament for a second year. Hundreds of young people – many trying the sport for the very first time – came down to Yellowave to compete in an inter-school event that included every local secondary school bar two. While hard numbers don’t always capture the whole picture, the response has been outstanding. Participation across our junior pathway has doubled, with over 100 players now signed up to our 11yr+ clubs. We’ve also launched a new girls-only academy, welcomed players from as young as five throughout the summer, and regularly filled six courts with 11-18yr old players on dark November weeknights.
The ripple effect has reached into the city’s main sixth form college. BHASVIC 6th form has now set up a dedicated beach volleyball academy that fits directly into their sixth-form timetable, giving 16–18-year-olds a structured route into the sport where they train at Yellowave twice a week. Plus, a competing state 6th form is also asking us to support them in setting up a volleyball academy within their setting. Hove Park School have managed to source more funding off the back of the growth of the sport and has run an after-school club for the second year running, supported by a Yellowave coach. The club offers sessions for both pupils and children within the local community who don’t attend the school. It is totally free to attend.
On top of that, our home-grown athletes like Billy Hennig and Lewis Bunton are now representing England and giving back some of their expertise through coaching the younger groups at Yellowave – inspiring the next generation coming through our sessions. The grant has genuinely moved the needle for beach volleyball in our community. We’re seeing more enthusiasm, more opportunities, and more young players discovering a sport they love, often children who are not playing other sports. It’s a whole set of young people who have yet to find a sport, beach volleyball fills a hole for them.
We hope VEF can once again secure the funding so that we can continue the momentum that the grant has kick started and run the tournament a third year running”.
Our favourite part about the Foundation is exactly this!
Helping out clubs, and giving opportunities to those who may not have otherwise had access brings us so much happiness.
