Club case study: leadership roles help young players develop on and off court at Monkseaton

Treasurer and Secretary of Monkseaton Volleyball Club, Claire Shorting, shares how this growth came about and the motivation for ongoing development.

Having taught PE for over 20 years, Claire has always been passionate about positively impacting on young people and saw establishing a community volleyball club as the ideal way to do it.

Her idea took shape after she moved back to the North East from Liverpool when the team she had previously played for moved its training sessions to Sundays, making it difficult for her to attend while raising young children.

For Claire, setting up Monkseaton Volleyball Club was an obvious solution. One of her key aims was to engage children aged four to 11, introducing them to the sport early.

“It has always been my belief that, as a volleyball community, we need to focus on increasing participation at the primary school level. Engaging them young can help prevent losing them to other sports,” she said.

In order to engage this younger demographic when the club was founded, sessions were promoted through social media.

Free introductory sessions were offered to give people a feel for the sport, and the club reached out to local primary schools to run after-school volleyball programmes.

Claire believes that making volleyball accessible and enjoyable for younger children is key to long-term involvement.

She said: “Volleyball can be broken down into lots of little fun games and activities, and letting this age group immerse themselves in the sport while seeing how it is played at a higher level is exciting for them.”

By creating a clear development pathway within the area, Claire hopes to ensure that young players stay in the sport for years to come.

“By engaging youngsters, they are more likely to remain in the sport if there is a pathway for them in their local area,” she added.

A key part of the club’s sessions focus on developing leadership skills, as, having run multiple leadership courses over the years, Claire has seen the benefits first hand.

She said: “Leading leadership courses has shown me just how much young children love to interact with the older sports leaders as they really look up to them.

“It has already started to pay off within the club. I currently have three young leaders supporting the  four to 11 year olds, giving them valuable coaching experience that they can continue to build on in the future.”

The opportunity to become a young leader is offered to all of the 15 to 17-year-olds at the club, and Claire is hoping that their number will continue to grow.

“I used to run the Volleyball Leaders Award to teach coaching and leadership skills, allowing young leaders to put them into practice,” she said.

“I hope to continue this once the resource is redeveloped, and that it will encourage even more people to get involved."

While the club has made significant strides in engaging the community, the journey has been far from easy, with all the hard work coming with its own set of challenges.

“One of the biggest challenges was managing such a wide range of ages and abilities in a single sports hall,” said Claire.

“To overcome this, we have two full-sized volleyball courts and a smaller badminton court in between them, which we use for the younger players.”

Claire feels like the time and effort put in by all involved in the club has been extensive and even more rewarding when they can see the benefits it has had in the community.

“It’s incredibly rewarding to see how much joy the sessions bring to the younger ones,” she said. “The confidence they’ve gained is outstanding and they’re no longer afraid to try new skills."

"I would highly recommend that schools reach out to their local clubs and ask if anyone is available to deliver sessions as the impact it has is inevitable.”

Looking ahead, Claire remains optimistic about the club’s future and its continued growth, with a strong focus on expanding the sport and creating a lasting impact on the local community.

She said: "I’m excited to see the junior section grow. We plan to target more local primary schools in the coming years by offering after-school sessions to promote the junior club.

“Additionally, we’re already seeing some of the older ones transition into our adult teams in the local league."

“We also plan to run two sessions per week instead of just one this season, with the addition of beach sessions for the junior section to keep them engaged until the indoor season begins again,”

Claire hopes that all the club’s hard work will make a significant impact in the coming years and inspires others to consider starting similar initiatives in their own local areas.

“Our goal is that in five to six years, we’ll see an influx of players across the North East, feeding into the regional squads,” she said.

“There’s already a lot of great work happening within North East clubs, and it will be fantastic to keep that momentum going.”

---

If any clubs are interested in discussing or need advice on how to develop their local volleyball community, they can contact Claire at Claire.Shorting@monkseaton.org.uk.