Volleyball in Renfrewshire is continuing to thrive thanks to a renewed partnership between Scottish Volleyball, OneRen and the Renfrewshire Active Schools team.
The local authority has a secondary school volleyball league which sees every associated school compete and take turns to host throughout the academic year. This inter-school competitive sport has helped to elevate volleyball in the school setting with it being more popular than ever.
The school league is supported by the local Active Schools’ teams who assist the PE department with fixtures and logistics. To ensure the legacy of the league, the One Ren Sports Leaders programme students all participate in Scottish Volleyball’s Ambassador course.
The course will be delivered to around 100 senior pupils by our Regional Development Officer over the next five weeks across the main localities. These young leaders will then use their new skills to deliver volleyball in local cluster primary schools utilising the equipment provided to them by Scottish Volleyball from the CEV European Volleyball Schools programme.
Gleniffer High School’s Principal Teacher of PE, Colin Giles, attended the CEV schools coaches convention last year in North Macedonia and has held volleyball in-service sessions for both secondary and primary teachers: “The growth of volleyball in my school and cluster primaries has been great over the past few years.
“The partnership we have with Scottish Volleyball has really allowed the sport to grow and increase opportunities for both primary and secondary pupils”.
It’s not only in school and after school that Volleyball is growing in Renfrewshire, the One Ren sport team also provide community player development centres in the evening which have been the springboard for many young people who have gone on to play in the Scottish Volleyball League set up.
Scottish Volleyball Regional Development Officer Blair Pettigrew had this to say: “It has been a real pleasure to continue developing the strong bond I inherited between Renfrewshire and Scottish Volleyball.
“The work going on here between the key partners is a great example of best practice when it comes to partnership working, school-to-club partnerships and development pathways”.
One Ren Active Schools Manager, Robert Agnew reiterated the significance of these opportunities for school pupils: “Our partnership with Scottish Volleyball continues to develop and give the young people of Renfrewshire a great opportunity to enjoy what is a very open and inclusive sport.
“It’s great to see young people falling in love with the sport in school and going on to compete at the highest level in the country!
“I would like to thank Scottish Volleyball for their continued support of this key development initiative”.
If you would like to learn more, or your school wants to get involved with our Ambassador course – email info@scottishvolleyball.org and a member of our staff will help you with any queries you may have.