Volleyball Southland rebounding into the black
Volleyball Southland is back in the black and again one of the region’s best performing codes.
After struggling to break even two years ago, the organisation is expecting to follow last year’s $32,000 surplus with a $40,000 surplus this year on the back of strong fiscal management and increased playing numbers.
Volleyball Southland board chair Donna Milne said the organisation had grown under Regional Development Manager Alissa Light.
“The board, with the help of Sport Southland, have really focused on a new strategic direction and comprehensive financial management,” Milne said.
"Volleyball NZ have seen our region’s capabilities and are excited by how we can contribute to the national strategy. We now have also employed William Dymond as our new Southland growth leader. The purchase of a fully-electric vehicle will remove some of the barriers so we can take volleyball direct to our stakeholders.”
Photo: New Volleyball Southland growth leader William Dymond.
Light said volleyball had been prompted to take a good look at its strengths and weaknesses and been adaptive to the needs of the players in order to increase participation.
One example was allowing adult social teams the chance to decide if they wanted to pay an additional cost for an umpire, or umpire the game themselves.
Players at all levels were looking for more opportunities to play socially, Light said.
“We’ve seen a massive spike in the number of high school teams, especially at James Hargest,” she said.
Volleyball now has the challenge of accommodating 60 secondary school teams and anywhere between 14 and 20 adult teams at ILT Stadium Southland on a Wednesday.
“The improved financial position has meant that we have been able employ Will and that has opened up lots of opportunities to grow the game even more,” Light said.
At the representative level, Sam Hodges became the first Southlander to be named in a New Zealand indoor volleyball team when he was selected for the national under 18 team last year, and he has backed that up by being re-selected in the New Zealand under 20 team in 2019.
Milne said Southland’s organisational success had been noticed at a national level.
“I am two thirds through my first term on the Volleyball NZ board and I am excited to now have fellow Southland board member Michael Weusten on the newly formed VNZ finance, risk and audit committee with me,” she said.
“Southland also put a bid in to host the South Island indoor and beach junior championships for 2020. With the amazing help of Venture Southland and the ILT we were able to bring the VNZ chief executive down and showcase Southland to her and win the bid.”
