Phoenix Rising 2022 in Review

2022 was an enormous year for Volleyball in NSW. Rebounding from back to back incomplete years due to COVID, 2022 saw new programs, huge growth and impressive finishes from our Phoenix teams. The community came together better than ever before, performing at every level as a result of the commitment and dedication of our athletes and coaches.

Internally Volleyball NSW hired Chris Todd from the QAS beach volleyball program to be its Head Coach and Technical educator. This was an important step to progressing the expertise in state while setting the foundation for future performance programs. With so much to cover here are some Phoenix stat highlights –

• Total Phoenix Programs = 6
• Total Phoenix Teams = 42
• Total Phoenix National Championship Medals = 17

Australian Youth Beach Volleyball Championship (AYBVC)

2022 was the 2^nd official year of NSW Phoenix Youth Beach following an impressive inaugural season. This year the program took on more athletes and coaches, expanded the state team camps and leveraged the NSW beach volleyball tournament play for player development. The vision of the program was to maintain the standard from the previous year while including more athletes into the beach pathway. Amidst continued challenges with COVID, NSW Phoenix managed to come second overall and earned medals in nearly all age categories. Most importantly however was that a third of the athletes in Youth Beach Phoenix attended their first National Championships.

• Total Athletes = 67
• Total Teams = 23
• Total Coaches = 12
• Gold x 2
• Silver x 3
• Bronze x 2

Australian Junior Volleyball Championship (AJVC)

The U19 and U23 Junior National Championships were held in Sydney and presented an exciting opportunity for NSW to take advantage of home court while wearing the Phoenix jersey for the first time at an indoor Championship. Due to an incredible trials Junior Phoenix was able to field a very competitive team in each age and division while also hosting a development team in the U23 men.

This quick two month program saw Volleyball NSW successfully collaborate with the AVA to share athletes while internally supporting coach development. Athletes improved throughout the camps and the event culminating in a U23 women’s Bronze and two epic 5 set finals in the U19 and U23 men’s finals, with both teams walking away with Silver.

• Total Athletes = 70
• Total Teams = 5
• Total Coaches = 16
• Silver = 2
• Bronze = 1

Regional Academies of Sport Incorporated (RASi)

A large focus in 2021 was extending resources of the athlete pathway beyond Sydney metro through a partnership with the Regional Academies of Sport. This new partnership saw multiple RASi’s bring programs to life with the inaugural showing of Volleyball in the RASi games! Many athletes used this new pathway to get selected to the Phoenix Youth Indoor Program. This is a very exciting initiative that will create more development and selection opportunities for athletes and coaches across NSW.

RASi Academies

• South West Sydney Academy of Sport (SWSAS)
• Western Sydney Academy of Sport (WSAS)
• Illawarra Academy of Sport (IAS)
• Norther Coast Academy of Sport (NCAS)
• Hunter Academy of Sport (HAS)

VNSW RASi Championship results

• Junior Girls division are: 1. IAS, 2. SWSAS 3. NCAS
• Junior Boys Division: 1. SWSAS, 2. WSAS, 3.HAS
• Senior Girls: 1. IAS, 2. HAS, 3. NCAS
• Senior Boys: 1. SWSAS, 2. HAS, 3. NCAS

Australian Youth Volleyball Championship (AYVC)

With AYVC being cancelled in 2021 due to COVID the 2022 season was highly anticipated. With nearly 600 athletes going through the trial & Talent Identification (TID) process the program took on 180 athletes for the Squad Phase and narrowed down to 120 athletes for the travelling team phase.

This program focused on developing as many athletes for as long as possible to open up opportunities for younger talents to grow.

 The “Play Day” concept was also introduced to support athletes in exploring free play as well as an ethos around being a contributing player from more than one position. With a focus on all-round development coaches utilized athletes in multiple roles and thus a more versatile game style emerged.

NSW Phoenix sent 12 teams to the National Championships winning a number of medals and securing itself as the second best State at the Championships.

• Total Athletes = 120
• Total Teams = 12
• Total Coaches = 28
• Gold = 1
• Silver = 3
• Bronze = 3

Senior Phoenix and Australian Volleyball League (AVL)

New to the Phoenix portfolio was the AVL program after a multiple year break at the Senior National level. This league represented a huge opportunity for NSW to lean in at the top level of competition in Australia and the season was a nail biter.

With the women taking control early under Head Coach Max Giubiotti they came out of the gates with a hot streak putting Australia on notice. The Men under Head Coach Chris Todd had some victories and promising moments leading into the final stretch of the season but weren’t able to beat the top teams. Both Senior Phoenix Teams were in the running to make the final 4 but lost out on the opportunity on the final weekend of league play. The goal was for both teams to make the championships, however, even though that didn’t happen we saw both teams raise the standard of play in NSW.

A new culture has been born with the inception of historical Phoenix numbers for athletes who wore the Senior Phoenix jersey.

This first Senior Phoenix AVL season was incredibly important and couldn’t have been done without so many athletes wanting to be a part of it and a great group of coach volunteers who pushed through a very long year of volleyball. Both UTS and USyd Volleyball clubs were pivotal in supporting the program with training venues so a big thank you to those organizations for working with us.

• Female Phoenix Squad Athletes = 26
• Female Phoenix Team Athletes = 16
• Male Phoenix Squad Athletes = 42
• Male Phoenix Team Athletes = 20

Martin Reader

Head of Pathways