The wider squad of the Volley Blacks for the 2024-25 international cycle has been confirmed with coach Sebastian Gonzalez naming 37 players.

Following a camp at Pioneer Recreation Centre and Shirley Boys High School in Christchurch at the end of August, the wider squad features 11 of the 12 players who made the trip to Chile in the squad’s last international outing in July 2023.

Gonzalez says landing the wider list was challenging with the growing talent pool in New Zealand.

“The selection process was a really hard task, we had the best athletes trialling from all around Aotearoa and unfortunately we can’t select them all, but we are confident we did a good job picking the strongest squad available,” Gonzalez said.

The national men’s coach says those who have earned their spots have put their hand up in a range of environments over recent times.

“We have a selected group of athletes who have demonstrated in their recent performances why they are part of the Volley Blacks. It is a mix of athletes who have performed amazingly in the national tournaments with a lot of experience, and the Chile test series.

“This is combined with a mix of youth with a promising potential to become top players in New Zealand.”

Gonzalez says the attention now turns to weaving the group together as they build towards the pinnacle event – the Asian Championships.

“What we are working with this squad is to build a team culture where we can work together towards achieving the goals we are setting for the next few years until our biggest challenge which is Asian Championships.

“We are setting goals and a team culture that will help us to achieve excellence on and off the court, with the aim of performing on the court according to the international level, and a professional environment that will help our athletes and coaching staff to work towards those goals.”

Volley Blacks wider squad 2024-25

AJ Salmon – Canterbury
Billy Johnstone - Harbour
Cameron Douglas – Harbour
Campbell Forsyth - Bay of Plenty
Carrick Corson - Canterbury
Daniel Hitchens - Bay of Plenty
Daniel Kilpatrick – Harbour
Daniel Malcolm – Canterbury
Finn Howard – Canterbury
Greg Vukets – Harbour
Jackson Taurarii – Wellington
Jacob Ceelen-Thomas - Canterbury
James Sadlier – Harbour
Jamie Julian – Canterbury
Jobe McAuley – Tasman
Johann Timmer – Harbour
Joseph Mafi – Wellington
Josh Clarke – WECA
Joshua Watson - Otago
Jova Waqa – Canterbury
Kyle Smith – Canterbury
Leni Ma’ia’i – Harbour
Luke Hulston – Canterbury
Luke McIntosh - Canterbury
Mana Placid – Canterbury
Matthew Brett – Canterbury
Matthew Butterfield – Canterbury
Maxton Venimore - Bay of Plenty
Netana Samia - Bay of Plenty
Noah Smith – Otago
Pesamino Morrison – Canterbury
Sam Hodges – Canterbury
Saxon Gough – Harbour
Seth Grant – Canterbury
Thomas Vesty – Canterbury
Troy Hulston – Canterbury
Will Watson – Harbour

Management staff
Sebastian Gonzalez – Head Coach
Sue Ballantyne – Manager

Volleyball New Zealand are currently seeking expressions of interest from athletes who wish to be considered for the 2024/2025 Volley Blacks squad.  Athletes selected for this squad will further be considered for the team that will be represent New Zealand at the 2025 Men’s Asian Volleyball Championships.

As part of the preparations and selection process, two trail camps will be held, one in the South Island and one in the North Island.  All domestic New Zealand players who want to be considered for selection will need to attend trails in their respective region.

Those athletes that are not currently residing in New Zealand and are based overseas on scholarship OR professional contracts can still register their interest for the squad through the EOI. This applies even if their availability for 2024 is limited and won’t be available until 2025.

It is also expected that all domestic athletes participate in this year’s 2024 Senior Inter Provincial Championships in Wellington from June 1 – June 3. The Volley Blacks wider squad will be selected following this competition.

Please find details below with regards to upcoming trials for the Volley Blacks Squad, as well as important dates if selected into the squad. Please note that some dates, venues, and costs, for camps and/ or competitions may be currently broad as Volleyball New Zealand is waiting for confirmation from other volleyball associations and confederations. VNZ will endeavour to confirm any approximations as soon as they are aware of confirmed dates, and venues.

Date of Note:

South Island Trial:
Date:  Saturday, 25^th May & Sunday, 26^th May 2024
Venue:  Pioneer Recreation & Sport Centre, 75 Lyttleton Street, Christchurch
Time:  Saturday & Sunday, 9am to 6pm

North Island Trial:
Date: Saturday, 8^th June & Sunday, 9^th June 2024
Venue:  Onehunga College, 24 Pleasant Street, Onehunga
Time:  Saturday 11am-6pm & Sunday, 9am to 4pm

Athletes will need to provide their own transport, accommodation, food etc. for trials. 

Please click on the link below to indicate your interest for the Volley Blacks Squad.  The squad will work with Sebastian Gonzalez as the Head Coach of the Volley Blacks for the coming international cycle.

All athletes are invited to attend the trials.

Any athletes currently abroad and would like to express interest for the Volley Blacks squad, please make contact with Head Coach, Sebastian Gonzalez on sebastian@volleyballnz.org.nz  

Expressions of Interest are open until May 23 (South Island) and June 6 (North Island).

Click here for the Expression of Interest form.

For those already registered in Friendly Manager, once login is completed, click the Register Now button and you'll then be able to select the EOI form to complete.

Volleyball New Zealand confirmed on Tuesday the appointment of Sebastian Gonzalez as the Head Coach of the Volley Blacks for the coming international cycle.

The 36-year-old Gonzalez continues in the role after leading both the senior men’s and women’s programmes in the last cycle.

The Christchurch-based Gonzalez has been heavily involved in the volleyball community since his arrival in New Zealand from Chile in 2014 coaching a range of teams in the National Volleyball League, Inter-Provincial Championships, Club Championships and school events.

Volleyball New Zealand Performance Manager Colleen Campbell congratulated Gonzalez on his appointment: “I look forward to working with him as the programme continues to evolve over the next period of time,” Campbell said.

Gonzalez can’t wait to get going in the role, once again working with the top talent in Aotearoa.

“What excites me is the opportunity to lead and inspire a team of talented athletes, working together to achieve common goals and striving for excellence on both individual and collective level,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said his approach will centre around creating an environment which provides a platform for the group to compete on the world stage.

“The volleyball community can anticipate a high-tempo team, dedicated to delivering a calibre of play aligned with international standards.

“Our approach will emphasise aggression, mastery of basic fundamentals, tactical aspects of the game, and foster a culture of strong team cohesion and athlete-centric development.”

Gonzalez’s initial focus will be building on the development of the Volley Blacks programme of the last two years.

“This will include ongoing identification of athletes who exhibit the potential to join the Volley Blacks, as well as integrating coaches who will play an important part of our programme.

“In terms of gameplay, our recent performance during the Chile tour provided valuable insights on areas for improvement to elevate our national team’s performance. We must prioritise refining our serve-receive skills and mastering hitting techniques to score points consistently, aligning with the international standards.”

Looking back on the Volley Blacks' eight game tour of Chile, coach Sebastian Gonzalez saw a lot of improvement and some fine performances from his team, all but two of whom had not played international volleyball before. 

"It was great. The boys played at an amazing level. While we didn't get that win, we had some really tight games - to play like that against the fourth best team in the world is a big achievement. That means there's a lot of talent in New Zealand, and we just need to do a little bit more work in the program to get them to that level," said Sebastian. 

While the Volley Blacks pushed Chile hard, taking many sets deep, when it came to the critical points, the hosts showed that they'd been there before and their experience told in the end. 

"We were obviously a bit disappointed not to win a match - there were many times that we did live video analysis and looked at what we could have done differently. It's a real learning curve." 

"Many of the boys hadn't been in this kind of situation, they got a little bit nervous playing with a large crowd with people screaming, so it was a good learning experience for the younger players," said Sebastian.  

The crowds were large and noisy throughout the tour, with fans allowed on the floor afterwards for photos and autographs, and would sometimes bring presents for the team. 

"So the boys were pretty happy about that. The Chilean fans show a lot of love for the touring teams. And like the total amount of people that went to the stadiums throughout the tour was about 19,000 people - the gyms were packed for every match wherever we went to play, people sitting, people standing, people not getting in, so that was really nice to see as well," said Sebastian. 

On the court, the Volley Blacks weren't afraid to go for their shots, looking to take Chile out of their usual system and apply pressure, particularly on their serve.  

"Our jump servers were really trying to start the points with some power. And so some days you can have an amazing serving day, and others you miss a few, we tried to start the points by going for it. Chile's big servers were going at 118kph, while our big servers Mana and Jacob were going at 116, 117, so there wasn't much difference between the sides, but it's about that consistency, which will come with more time together," said Sebastian.  

The next focus will be preparing for the Asian Champs in 2025, with the team missing the latest edition becuase of government warning over travelling to Iran, but Sebastian is sure the team's experience in Chile is a strong platform to build on. 

"The connection and the team environment were really good. There's always problems travelling and playing so many games back to back. But at the end, we spoke about this lifelong connection and memories, and telling grandchildren about what we'd just experienced, so that's really important as well."

"It was a full on tour, thanks to all our sponsors and management, and everyone who made the tour possible."
   
"We've shown we can compete at a high level, so we need to be at the FIVB tournaments and improve our ranking, build on the programme and aim for better tournaments," said Sebastian.