The Volleyball Victoria Country Championships is the premier annual senior indoor volleyball tournament for regional Volleyball Victoria affiliates. With a rich history of competition stretching back over half a century, the Country Champs is one of the most-anticipated events on the volleyball calendar and attracts hundreds of athletes, officials, volunteers, and family members to the host region every year.

The 2024 tournament will be hosted by Latrobe Valley, 8-10 June*, across three venues: Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium (GRISS) Traralgon, Latrobe Leisure Churchill, and Latrobe Leisure Morwell.

For opportunities to become a sponsor or partner of the 2024 Volleyball Victoria Country Championships, please contact our office for more information.

*Some fixtures will be played on Friday night, 7 June.

The 2024 Volleyball Victoria Junior Country Championships will be hosted by Volleyball Horsham in Horsham, 27-29 September 2024.

To apply for team entry please use this team entry application form.

Volleyball Victoria is collecting feedback from participants at the 2024 Country Championships. All players, coaches, referees, volunteers, family members, friends, spectators, and visitors who participated in the Championships this year are highly encouraged to take the short 10 minute survey.

Take the Survey (10 Mins)

The 2024 Junior Country Championships will take place 27-29 September in Horsham, hosted by Volleyball Horsham.

 

2024 Country Championships participants get access to exclusive deals and discounts for the duration of the tournament in the Latrobe Valley.

Participant Recovery

We have managed to secure access to the indoor pools at Latrobe Leisure Centre Morwell and Churchill and Moe Newborough at a special rate for participants. Participants need to mention “Volleyball champs” to get the discounted price of $5.10 per session. Please check venues for operating hours.

Taken from the 2022 Regulations:

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 woundup 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 CentralNorth-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.

  D1 Men D1 Women        
1970 Geelong Geelong        
1971 Geelong Geelong        
1972 Geelong Bendigo        
1973 Bendigo Bendigo        
1974 Bendigo Bendigo        
1975 Geelong Geelong        
1976 Geelong Geelong        
1977 Geelong Geelong        
1978 Geelong Bendigo        
1979 Latrobe Valley Latrobe Valley        
1980 Geelong Geelong D2 Men D2 Women    
1981 Latrobe Valley Geelong Swan Hill No Comp.    
1982 Warrnambool Geelong Swan Hill Swan Hill    
1983 Bendigo Geelong Seymour Seymour    
1984 Bendigo Geelong Seymour No Comp.    
1985 Bendigo Bendigo Albury Wodonga South Gippsland    
1986 Latrobe Valley Albury Wodonga Warrnambool No Comp.    
1987 Ararat Bendigo Sunraysia No Comp.    
1988 Bendigo Bendigo Goulburn Valley No Comp.    
1989 Bendigo Bendigo Moe Moe    
1990 Bendigo Geelong Goulburn Valley Moe    
1991 Latrobe Valley Bendigo Moe Warrnambool    
1992 Geelong Geelong Bairnsdale No Comp.    
1993 Bendigo Bendigo Sunraysia South Gippsland    
1994 Ballarat Albury Wodonga Bairnsdale South Gippsland    
1995 Ballarat Bendigo Wangaratta Bairnsdale    
1996 Latrobe Valley Bendigo Horsham No Comp.    
1997 Geelong Bendigo Bairnsdale Bendigo Blue    
1998 Geelong Bendigo Horsham South Gippsland    
1999 Warrnambool Bellarine Cranbourne Bendigo    
2000 Bellarine Geelong Ballarat Warrnambool    
2001 Geelong Bendigo Bellarine Bendigo    
2002 No Comp. Bellarine Bairnsdale Ballarat    
2003 Bendigo Geelong Ballarat Morwell    
2004 Bairnsdale Geelong Horsham Morwell    
2005 Geelong Geelong Ballarat Ballarat    
2006 Bendigo Bendigo Sunraysia Warrnambool    
2007 Mornington Mornington Mornington Bellarine    
2008 Bendigo Korumburra Horsham Warrnambool    
2009 Bendigo Geelong Latrobe Valley Bellarine    
2010 Bendigo Bellarine Korumburra Horsham    
2011 Bendigo Bairnsdale Sunraysia Korumburra    
2012 Latrobe Valley Bendigo Geelong Bellarine    
2013 Bendigo Horsham Geelong Bellarine    
2014 Bendigo Horsham Ballarat Phantoms Bellarine    
2015 Bendigo Bendigo Bairnsdale Bairnsdale    
2016 Latrobe Valley Latrobe Valley Warrnambool Pirates Latrobe Valley Div 3 Men Div 3 Women
2017 Bendigo Bendigo Bairnsdale Bellarine Korumburra Riddells Creek
2018 Latrobe Valley Latrobe Valley Horsham SW Pirates Riddells Creek Sunraysia
2019 Horsham Bendigo Latrobe Valley Maffra Bendigo Sunraysia
2020 Event Cancelled Event Cancelled Event Cancelled Event Cancelled Event Cancelled Event Cancelled
2021 Event Cancelled Event Cancelled Event Cancelled Event Cancelled Event Cancelled Event Cancelled
2022 Latrobe Valley Bendigo Bairnsdale Bairnsdale Warrnambool No Comp.
2023 Latrobe Valley Horsham Ballarat Bairnsdale Riddells Creek Warrnambool
2024            
2025            

Entries for the 2024 Volleyball Victoria Country Championships hosted by Latrobe Valley are now open. If you are the delegate responsible for your affiliate's entries, please contact Volleyball Victoria for the official entry form.

2024 Volleyball Victoria Country Championships Team Entry Fees
Upfront Bond per team entry  Fee per team entry
$100.00 $600.00 (GST Incl.)