The end of 2022 marked a significant milestone for Australia’s Men’s Beach ParaVolleyball team, as they traveled to Florida in December to compete at the 2022 USA Beach ParaVolley Regional Development Event (RDE).

The three-man team was led by Western Australia’s Brad Barclay, who not only captained the team for his second international tournament, but also coached the squad at Hickory Point Beach in Tavares, USA.

He was joined by Jayden Coffey from Tasmania and Chris Henderson from Victoria, both making their international debuts.

The RDE was run in partnership with World Paravolley (Pan America), Volleyball USA and alongside the American Volleyball Professionals (AVP) Florida tournament.

With three American men’s team, plus our Aussies, and four American women’s teams playing for a total prize pool of $US 20,000, the RDE was USA Volleyball’s largest beach paravolley competition to date, and also its first international competition.

Barclay said the competition was a fantastic experience for the group’s first tournament as a team.

“Our three man team finished 4th and pocketed $US 1200,” Barclay said.

“It was a good result since we had never played together and improved greatly over the three days.

“I have also just completed my level 2 VA coaching certificate and it was a good coaching experience for myself.”

In August 2022, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced that beach paravolley has applied to participate in the 2028 Paralympic Games in Los Angeles. If accepted, it would be the second active volleyball discipline in the Paralympics, joining sitting volleyball. A decision is expected to be announced in early 2023.

After Expressions of Interest opened in August 2022, Volleyball Australia is working to form its Disability Participation Working Group in 2023.

Story courtesy of Volleyball Australia.