This past weekend the Australian Junior Indoor Volleyball Championships were held in Sydney where the best state and club teams battled for U19 and U23 National titles. VNSW Phoenix entered 7 teams in the event with unprecedented opportunities across all age groups. What happened next is one of the greatest success stories in Volleyball NSW history. 

With Phoenix teams in all five divisions the goal was to medal in each one. On the first day of the tournament, it became clear that Phoenix teams were looking good and well positioned. On Saturday with some early and late games Phoenix teams challenged their way through the draw. With some teams having very strong early performances and others with some close matches and tight losses all our Sky teams made it out of pool play and into the Championship bracket. The Navy teams had some great matches and took some sets off quality teams but weren’t able to top their pools. On Saturday afternoon and evening the crossover matches were all super competitive with 4 of our 5 teams booking their tickets into finals and the U23 men solidifying their semi-final match the following morning.  

Sunday match play escalated with Championships on the line. The day started at 8AM with our U23 Sky men team winning their semi-final in a close 5 set match with WA while the U19 Sky men sweeping Queensland Maroon 3-0 to earn VNSW their first gold medal of the day. Following that the U19 Women Sky team versed Queensland Maroon in the final with QLD bettering the NSW side 3-0 earning our girl's National silver. At noon our U23 Women Sky team played an incredibly exciting match against a strong WA team winning 3-1 and earning NSW its second National title of the day. The final time slot had two gold opportunities with our youngest squad the U19 Women’s Navy team and our top U23 Men’s Sky team. After a brilliant tournament the U19 women played a compelling match against America’s Team Brewster winning 3-1 taking the NSW gold count to 3! At the same time the U23 men played the highly anticipated final re-match vs Queensland Maroon where in 2022 NSW lost in a wild 5 set match. This year it was equally challenging, however, NSW came out on top with a brilliant match ending with the Phoenix side winning 15-13 in the 5th to claim its 4th national title of the day. 

Final Results 

U19 Girls Div 1 - Gold 

U19 Girls Premier – Silver 

U19 Boys Premier – Gold & 7th 

U23 Girls Premier - Gold 

U23 Boys Premier – Gold & 11th  

“Building on a strong finish in 2022, we saw an opportunity to raise the bar in 2023 and invest in this high potential Pathway program. We added strength and conditioning for athletes, increased technical trainings and added in layers of coach development and mentorship,” Head of Pathways Martin Reader shared this about the results. 

“It was a huge effort from over 100 athletes and 20 coaches, and this historic finish is a testament to the hard work, contribution and belief from all involved.” 

“Winning 4 of 5 national championship titles goes to show the quality of our people and how buy-in to a new vision has set an exciting trajectory for our state and our sport,” Reader said. 

This tournament follows a positive year on year progression for the VNSW Phoenix. Previously there were some strong individual team performances, however, this year marks the most competitive program performance.  

Head Phoenix and U23 Men’s Sky Coach Chris Todd elaborated on this, “Over the past year we have made a strong shift towards an athlete centred model of playing. We have challenged coaches to create more autonomous training environments, encouraged more creativity in game play and have challenged athletes to make better decisions for themselves on the court. It is exciting to see this take shape across all our teams as reflected by their playing style as well as their team results.” 

Long time VSNW contributor and Phoenix program mentor coach Ian Garrett had this to say, “What an amazing 3 days of Volleyball. NSW teams in all finals and winning 4 of the 5 gold medals shows the energy our community has put in is paying dividends. As a mentor coach I am grateful for all our coaches to being willing to improve through questioning and reflection. The mentor role is a developing space, so it is great to have the buy-in from our coaches and to be ahead of the curve in Australia.”    

After this highly successful Junior National Championships the Phoenix program will now focus its efforts in the Youth and Senior spaces. The youth program will begin its training looking to the National Championships in September. The Senior space will start next week leading into the new Volleyball Super League (VSL) starting early August. VNSW will be hosting two home matches and playing three away matches against the top Senior teams in Australia leading into the VSL finals mid-September in Bendigo.  

For more information on these upcoming events stayed tuned to our website and social media channels. 

For a full list of results from the Australian Junior Volleyball Championships - Draw & Results – Junior Champs (volleyball.org.au) 

Photo - Rogue Gun Photography and Media