Volleyball has been played in regional Victoria since the early-1960’s. During those early days, most competitions, like the founders of our great sport, were run by, or in conjunction with, the YMCA. Competitions were running at the Ballarat School of Mines and the YMCA’s of Bendigo, Geelong and Warrnambool. In August 1966, an invitation was extended by the Victorian Amateur Volleyball Association to play in the first State-wide event at Monash University. Geelong and Bendigo accepted the invitation with Melbourne represented by Sisu. For Bendigo players at least, this was the first exposure to ‘international rules’, which prevented upward scoops with open hands, introduced an action called a ‘dig’ and seemed to penalise most overhead actions using the fingers as ‘double hits’! Over the next few years, the sport expanded through the YMCA movement with weekly competitions starting up in Ararat, Warrnambool and Latrobe Valley. The Victorian Regional Council of YMCA’s proposed the first Victorian YMCA Championship in Warrnambool on 30th March 1968 with an entry fee of $4.00 per team. The sport continued to grow with additional regional associations affiliating with the Victorian Amateur Volleyball Association (now VVI) who provided the coaching and refereeing assistance needed to raise the standard of play. In 1970, the YMCA Championships started to give way to the Victorian Country Championships with the first ever event held in Bendigo. In 1973, a re-organisation of the VAVA saw the proposal to create separate Victorian Country and Metropolitan Volleyball Councils. The VCVC was established in 1974 and took over the organisation of the Victorian Country Championships. For the next 10-12 years, the Country Championships grew in stature with the inclusion of two divisions for open men and women and junior divisions for boys and girls. Representative teams successfully contested Australian Country Championships between Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales on several occasions. In October 1985, the VCVC voluntarily wound up the Council and handed the responsibility for the Country Championships back to Volleyball Victoria, who by that time had full-time State Executive and Coaching Directors. Since that time, the Long Weekend in June has continued to be the date of the major annual volleyball event for most regional associations, even though in 1986 the Junior Country Championships were wound up in favour of state and national schools events. A number of regional associations have ceased to exist, as have a number of regional tournaments. Regional leagues were created in both the Gippsland and Central, North-West regions, with Gippsland the only one to survive. Some associations have successfully competed in the State League competitions at various times. Following the experience gained by a number of regional administrators working on the Sydney Olympic Games, a proposal to revamp the Victorian Country Championship was put to VVI in early 2002. Later that year, the Volleyball Victoria Country Championships Commission was formed to implement the recommendations of the review and take control of the event into the future. These championships now provide regional players and officials an opportunity to participate in a consistently well-managed event, using many international protocols and a high standard of presentation. Without doubt, this event now ranks as one of the best volleyball events in Australia. Source: 2022 Country Championship regulations The management of the Country Championships by the Victorian Country Championship Commission certainly achieved the objective of raising the standard of presentation, and delivering a consistently high quality event. However, the demands on Host Associations began to take their toll, with several Associations declining the opportunity to host the event due to the high workload. Similarly, the workload of the volunteer Commissioners also took its toll, with the Commission unable to fill casual vacancies. In 2023, the Commission handed the organisation of the Championships back to VVI, who with paid staff, were better equipped to manage the event.This item contains Correspondence of the Council in 1977 and reports on the Country Championships for that year; it includes the following documents: 11171.6a Letter from the Broken Hill YMCA Volleyball Association re tournament 11171.6b Letter from VAVA re State Coaches costs 11171.6c Circular of Fund Raising Proposals 11171.6d Letter from VAVA re Broken Hill Tournament 11171.6e Letter re amendments to the VAVA constitution 11171.6f Letter from Albury Wodonga wishing to enter the Country Championships 11171.6g Letter from Geelong Volleyball registration for Country Championships 11171.6h Circular - Sale of Rule Books 11171.6i Letter from VAVA re Rothmans Coaches Tour 11171.6j Letter from VAVA Secretary re championships, coaching and etc. 11171.6k VCVC Notice of AGM 11171.6l Letter from Latrobe Valley Volleyball with proposals for running the Country Championships 11171.6m Letters from Swan Hill and Ballarat re country Championships 11171.6n Letter from Goulburn Valley Volleyball 11171.6o Quotation from Waterwheel Press Shepparton 11171.6p Letters from VAVA to VCVC 11171.6q VCVC President's Report 1976-1977 11171.6r Letter from the Goulburn Valley Amateur Volleyball Association 11171.6s Letter from the Ararat and District YMCA Youth Clubs 11171.6t Letter from VAVA re Swan Hill Volleyball Association 11171.6u Letter to VAVA re Horsham and Warracknabeal Volleyball 11171.6v Letter to VCVC from Swan Hill Volleyball 11171.6w Letter from Wanganui Park High School 11171.6x Letter from the Ballarat Association 11171.6y Letter from Goulburn Valley Volleyball re coaching assistance 11171.6z Letter from Mrs Lozenicins re her son Arijs death 11171.6aa Letter from Ballarat Volleyball re Thomas Santamaria Coaching 11171.6ab Letter from Bob Kenter Latrobe Valley Volleyball Association (contact the BHS for details) 11171.6ac Letter from the Australian Volleyball Federation to VCVC President - news 11171.6ad Letter from VAVA to VCVC 11171.6ae Letter from VCVC President re coaching calendar for the year 11171.6af Letter from Wallabies Volleyball Club re Morwell tournament Grand Final 11171.6ag Letter from Goulburn Valley re Under 17 Country Championships 11171.6ah Letter from Warrnambool Association re services of Thomas Santamaria 11171.6ai Wallabies Volleyball Club re Russell Newman elected as Secretary 11171.6aj Letter from the Hamilton Memorial Stadium re their competition 11171.6ak Letter from Bendigo re rules of the Country Chamionships (Contact BHS for details) 11171.6al Letter to albury Wodonga Association re VCVC office bearers 11171.6am Letter from Murray Mansfield accepting his nomination for the VCVC Executive 11171.6an Letter to Tom Stevens Bendigo - thanks for his eork on the VCVC Constitution 11171.6ao Country Chamionships Entry and Registration forms 11171.6ap Procedure and Report on the VCVC 1977 Country Championships 11171.6aq Men's and Women's Volleyball Drawvictorian country volleyball council, vcvc, victorian amateur volleyball association, volleyball victoria

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