The Athlete Leadership Group (ALG) is a group of passionate volleyball athletes who are dedicated to broadening and strengthening the relationship between athletes and our national body Volleyball New Zealand (VNZ). The ALG is composed of five indoor volleyball athletes from both our Volley Ferns and Volley Blacks performance programmes.

We aim to provide a voice for all indoor volleyball athletes throughout Aotearoa and to gain insight and provide feedback to VNZ. Through listening to and communicating on behalf of all indoor Volleyball players we see our relationship as being key to providing sustainable positive experiences for all athletes engaging in Poirewa in Aotearoa.

The group is working in collectively with Colleen Campbell, VNZ High Performance Manager who we meet with Bi-monthly. We are also working in partnership with Angie Dougal our independent facilitator. The ALG also meet independently each month.

Initially our work will be focussed on gathering voice and having input into the Performance competition structure for 2024 and beyond and reflecting on previous experiences to enhance matters regarding our Performance programme.

We look forward to working closely with VNZ to provide support, answers and a voice for our athletes with the intention of creating an ongoing partnership between our athletes and national body.

Facilitator – Angie Dougal

The VNZ ALG is a group of passionate athletes who really care about their sport and improving the relationship with their national body (VNZ). They know that this relationship is the key to providing positive experiences for all volleyball athletes throughout NZ. 

I have been very impressed with the level of commitment to this crucially important piece of work by both the athletes and the national body. Both groups are committed to having the athlete voice heard. This work takes time if it is to be done well, and this is what I see 

Members: Kim Smith, Luke Hultson, Petra Manderson, Katie Adamson