South Queensferry based club City of Edinburgh Volleyball have received an 
award of £34,000 from the sportscotland direct club investment scheme. The award is being made to allow the club to employ 6 part time coaches to deliver new weekly training sessions for U16, U13 and U11 boys and girls at Queensferry HS and Kirkliston PS, to run volleyball sessions in all of the Queensferry cluster primary schools and to run volleyball camps in school holidays. It is hoped that the project will reach everyone in the local community, and that 100 new members will get the opportunity to join City of Edinburgh volleyball over the next 4 years.
Ian Brownlee, Head Coach of the club’s youth volleyball programmes is understandably excited about the award:
“This is excellent news for volleyball and also for young athletes who want to try an Olympic team sport. The award from sportscotland means that we can invest in good quality coaching by paying experienced UKCC qualified junior coaches to work with the club’s youngest athletes. At this age group good coaching really makes a difference. The funding from sportscotland and our partnerships with Active Schools Edinburgh and Scottish Volleyball also means that we can offer new sessions in the Kirkliston and Queensferry communities and we plan to have our coaches providing volleyball in all of the local primary schools. Our club has a strong pathway through to 1st division men and women and this investment from sportscotland will help us grow and expand our junior section, to bring more young people into volleyball and grow the club membership.”
Heather Darling, Active Schools Co-Coordinator for Queensferry Cluster said:
“I am delighted to be part of this project with City of Edinburgh Volleyball, a club which is an important part of our community. The project will bring volleyball to more children in the cluster and I am confident that it will lead to a growth in youth members, which will mean we will see more of these children being more active more often.”
Lynne Beattie, East Regional Development Officer for Scottish Volleyball and Ioannis Panayiotakis, Coaching Manager for Scottish Volleyball, will be supporting the project by mentoring the part-time coaches, supporting the sessions in the local primary schools and helping the club structure their youth programmes.
Lynne commented:
“This is an exciting time for volleyball in South Queensferry and Kirkliston. Scottish Volleyball is delighted to be supporting this project by providing coach education courses and supporting the club with the implementation of the project. I am looking forward to see lots of new volleyball players joining the great team sport of volleyball!”