Volleyball has been part of the Richmond tradition since the early days when Bill Black was department head. Bill was the England Coach in the early 1980's and had many successes with the college team including National Finals. He was ably supported by 2 ex BUSA Squad members Sue Grantham Sue Risbridger both of whom had a wealth of National League experience and Sue Risbridger also got capped at Senior level. The Academy was born out of the idea that London can provide a base for young players who aspire to play top flight volleyball with London Clubs whilst continuing their education. This process was started with Joel Banks (Eng Junior, Eng and GB Senior and played professionally in Belgium) Joel moved to London from Portsmouth to play for Malory VC where the 2 National Team coaches were and study for his A levels at College. Joel is currently GB assistant coach. He was soon followed by Grant Martindale from Carlisle (Eng Jun, Sen) who liked London so much he continued his education at Brunel University and his volleyball at Malory. We are now very proud to have him on board as a coach and teaching staff here at Richmond. Efe Eruero (Eng Sen) was also a student here and has now returned to London to play for London Docklands after completing his degree at Sheffield. The Academy is run by Carol Gordon who has had over 20 years of service as a player/coach in the National League and in her spare time managed the Eng/GB Mens Squad between 1989-1996 and since then has been coaching the England Cadet Boys Squad. We welcome all levels of players, as we appreciate that this is still a minority sport in most schools and the chance to learn this new and mentally challenging sport is rare.