A new volleyball club, Above the Net, has been making waves on the national scene despite being in operation for only 12 months.

The brainchild of Talia Bryant, Zara Anderson, and Jordon Karaitiana-Ferrier, the club was founded to provide a fun and supportive environment for players to enjoy social volleyball.

Operating out of the Whakatāne High School gymnasium, Bryant and Anderson take on coaching and captain roles.

“We provide the school with a koha for using the hall and the school uses that money to help and promote junior volleyball development, which means the money goes full circle to promote players and the sport,” Anderson said.

With a membership of 45, the club has enough players to field four teams – two premier and two development squads.

Recently, the club took a major step forward by entering regional competitions, with the women’s team placing second in the Matariki Cup.

“As an unknown team, no one really knows who we are, so we tend to be underestimated by the competition,” said Anderson.

Encouraged by that strong result, Above the Net entered the National Kiwi Cup in Auckland, where the men’s, women’s, and mixed teams battled it out over a week. The women’s team came away with the top spot.

“Our last game took two-and-a-half hours to win. We weren’t expecting that as we had no expectations other than just doing our best. We were so surprised.”

The team are grateful for financial support from the Whakatāne-Ōhope Com-munity Board, which allowed players to focus on the competition rather than travel and accommodation costs.

The future looks bright for the fledgling club as players continue to develop their skills and confidence on the court.

“There is a lot of good talent and enthusiasm here and we hope to capitalise on that. We are now looking at stepping up to national competition at some stage.”