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 1981 and reports on the Country Championships for that year; it include. the following documents: 11171.11a Victorian Country Championships 1981 Entry Forms and Draws 11171.11b Report on Regionalisation by VCVC 11171.11c List of reports to each association 11171.11d VCVC Financial report June to Oct 1981 11171.11e Australian Volleyball Federation Vacancy for a National Coaching Director 11171.11f VCVC List of office bearers 11171.11g VAVA Appointment of Bob Rowe as Executive Director 11171.11h Tracksuit Flashes for Representative teams 11171.11i VAVA re State U15 Girls Trials 11171.11j VAVA re Open Womens Team Selection 11171.11k VAVA re new magazine "Victorian Volleyball" 11171.11l Victorian High Schools' Sports Association re U20 Team selection trials 11171.11m VAVA to Associations re new scale of fees 11171.11n VCVC re Australian Women's Club Championships 11171.11o Mount Gambier Volleyball Association list of office bearers 11171.11p Victorian Country Volleyball Championships 1981 Report 11171.11q Mt Gambier Volleyball Association letters 11171.11r VCVC re Selection of U17 Girls team 11171.11s Letters re U20 Country Championships 11171.11t Report from the VCVC Annual two day Conference 11171.11u Mildura Volleyball association affiliation acceptance letters 11171.11v VAVA re sending out minutes of meetings 11171.11w VAVA re unaffiliated associations 11171.11x VAVA re new scale of registration fees 11171.11y VAVA re State Team Coaching Positions 11171.11z VAVA Minutes of Meeting Dec 1981 11171.11aa VCVC Secretary re affiliate fees and entries for Country Championships 11171.11ab From Mildura and Wangaratta Associations 11171.11ac To Ken Brooks Warrnambool re U20 Country Championship entries 11171.11ad Tracksuit flashes for Moe Country Championships 11171.11ae Draws for Wangaratta U17 Country Championships 11171.11af VAVA Executive Meeting Minutes July 1981 11171.11ag VAVA Executive Meeting Minutes July 1981 11171.11ah VAVA Executive Meeting Minutes August 1981 11171.11ai VAVA Executive Meeting Minutes Sept 1981 11171.11aj VAVA Executive Meeting Minutes Oct 1981 11171.11ak VAVA Executive Meeting Minutes Feb 1981 11171.11al VAVA Executive Meeting Minutes March 1981 11171.11am VAVA Executive Meeting Minutes April 1981 11171.11an VAVA Executive Meeting Minutes May 1981victorian country volleyball council, vcvc, victorian amateur volleyball association, volleyball victoria