Volleyoos Assistant Coach Kat Chen and Volleyroo/NSW athlete Mikaela Stevens Lead Fundamental Skill Development Session for GeckoSports Franchises.

In a move to champion women leaders in Volleyball and provide engaging development opportunities for nationally recognised GeckoSports coaches, the Volleyoos Assistant Coach Kat Chen and Volleyroo Mikaela Stevens recently facilitated a fundamental skill development session for GeckoSports at the AIS this week in Canberra.
 
The partnership between Volleyball NSW (VNSW) and GeckoSports aims to offer interactive and development-focused opportunities for aspiring Volleyballers across New South Wales and Australia through the Australian Sports Commissions, Sporting Schools initiative. By leveraging the expertise of experienced coaches like Chen and Stevens, the session focused on building essential skills in a fun, gamified environment.

"It's fantastic to see GeckoSports championing our women leaders in Volleyball," said Chen. "Mikaela and I were thrilled to lead this session and share our knowledge with their very passionate coaches”
 
Stevens echoed the sentiment, emphasising the importance of prioritising gamification in grassroots coaching to ensure all participants enjoy their experience. "Volleyball is such a dynamic and exciting sport, and it's crucial that young children are introduced to it in a way that sparks a passion and love for the game," she said.
 
The session, which was attended by GeckoSports Franchise owners from across Australia, focused on breaking down the fundamental skills, providing an approach that prioritises a universal design, fun, and the ability to modify. Through a series of interactive drills and games, the team were able to develop their techniques while also understanding the reasoning behind basic motor skills and their use in Volleyball skill development.
 
"The partnership between VNSW, VA and GeckoSports is a testament to the commitment to grow the sport of volleyball at the grassroots level," said Kim O’Donnell, GeckoSports owner. "By providing these types of development opportunities, led by experienced and highly respected professional coaches, we're able to inspire our franchise owners and coaches to approach the delivery of our Volleyball sporting schools programs with a varied range of program content to engage all children to ensure fun is always a top priority as we are all about giving kids a chance to learn and fall in love with sport."
 
As Volleyball continues to grow across Australia, initiatives like this one from GeckoSports and VNSW will play a crucial role in nurturing the talent and passion of young kids entering the sport to hopefully become players and ensure the sport's long-term growth and success.