The journey of a junior athlete from the first contact with a sport to an Olympic Gold medal is a long one, and requires a series of opportunities to encourage inspire and challenge the athlete to continually push the envelope of their abilities. They must always see the next step. They must always see a level above them so that they can strive to win a place in the next level up.

The Program

The challenge for the NBVA is to establish pathway that provides all the opportunities that a junior athlete requires to reach the elite level.
Below is a  hypothetical journey of a junior athlete which suggests possible facilities that would assist her along the way.

• Inspiration
  A group of senior players visits a school and puts on a beach volleyball demonstration.
• Identification/Application
• A basic skill session is run at the school and a group of 12 year old kids are identified as enthusiatic.
• Learning the basicsL
  A series of basic skills training sessions are run at the school for the interested children, perhaps in conjunction with other local schools. PE teachers are provided with a series of easy skills sessions that they can use in their classes.
• Beginner competitive opportunities
  An weekly league is established between some of the local schools in the area
• Development programs
  Athletes who are showing promise are provided an opportunity to participate in training camps, or regular coaching sessions.
• Tournaments / Leagues
  Junior tournaments are run for the various age brackets
• Elite coaching
  Players identified as potential NSW state representatives and provided training opportunities.
• National juniors
  Assistance is provided for players competing at Junior National level.
• National seniors
  Assistance is provided for players competing at Senior National level.

Program requirements

The NBVA Junior program must be consistent. To this end the program needs to be designed so that it will continue to function even when the club has a low level of participation from volunteer members.
Whenever possible the existing club activities should be modified to include and encourage junior participation. For example, junior divisions in tournaments and leagues. There should be other ways that the existing tournament formats can be leveraged to include juniors. (i.e. 120 volleyballers on a beach for a whole day)

Facilities

This program might be used as a catalyst to assist in the realisation of the “future fund” plans. For example installing courts into three well placed local schools could be a huge help in establishing an interschool league.