With the 2020 WA Volleyball League underway, Volleyball WA is taking an opportunity to celebrate the sport’s growing diversity.
While the COVID-19 pandemic caused a two-month delay, the 2020 WA Volleyball League season has grown in teams compared to the 2019 competition.
The growth in multicultural participation started with the implementation of the Cultural Engagement Plan through the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries’ Inclusive Sports Funding in 2015. The plan included the appointment of a new staff member responsible for increasing participation among persons of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CaLD) backgrounds.
Volleyball WA has continued to provide opportunities for persons from CaLD backgrounds and has seen significant growth from 1,228 participants in 2015 to 5,464 participants in 2019.
The WA Volleyball League is a snapshot of the states diverse makeup with 34% of players in the top two leagues being born outside of the country. Hailing from 34 different countries, Oceania accounts for the majority of the competition, with Asia and Europe in second and third respectively.
Volleyball WA CEO Robyn Kuhl said she was excited to see volleyball becoming “the sport of choice for so many West Australians, new and old,” despite the ongoing challenges the sport faces due to COVID-19.
“Volleyball is a world sport and is well placed to be used as a tool to drive social connectedness for all Australians. Sport is a universal language that fosters community and inclusive values throughout the world. I believe the success of our sport is because we champion community-building values throughout our competition and programs.”
“It is clear from the increase in teams that West Australians have missed playing sport and being able to be active together. So many have been adversely affected by COVID-19, so I am thrilled to see so many people playing volleyball in 2020.”
Volleyball WA will now switch it’s attention to the 2020 WA Volleyball Junior League which will launch in August. Volleyball WA is hopeful that the increase reflected in our senior league will be seen in the junior league too.
For more information, contact Volleyball WA at [email protected] or call 08 9228 8522.
Photo Credit: Joel 20-10 Photography (Joel Campbell)