2026 Blue and White Jacket Awards
Published Sun 25 Oct 2026
Our annual Blue and White Jacket Awards dinner was hosted Friday 23rd October, 2026 to celebrate this year’s Youth and Junior, beach and indoor volleyball State Teams. Thank you to everyone who came and made it a great night, and congratulations to this year’s winners!
We’ve had another terrific year of youth and junior volleyball, with our dedicated players bringing their all to every game and showing excellent sportsmanship and character. The Blue and White Jacket dinner and awards highlight the players that demonstrate our values best as well as their play on court.
The awards include U19–U23 Junior Indoor, U14–U18 Youth Beach and U14–U18 Youth Indoor State Teams, the respective coaches of the year, and the namesake Blue and White Jacket Awards for both Youth Indoor and Beach programs.
The Blue and White Jacket award is our most prestigious award at youth level in Victoria, and is given to players who demonstrate diligence and commitment, support and encouragement to other players, and excellent behaviour at all times. The 2026 winners are:
Indoor Junior |
||
Team |
MVP |
Coaches' Award |
| Under 23 Women | Samantha Pila | Jessica Moon |
| Under 23 Men | Hunter Hopkins | Luke Clarke |
| Under 21 Women | Rebekah Pocock | Alma Segev |
| Under 21 Men | Thomas Martin | Brock Dingley |
| Under 19 Women | Zipporah Ioane | Ruby Smith |
| Under 19 Men | Lachlan Saunders | Matthew Hoang |
Indoor Youth – Blue Teams |
||
Blue Team |
MVP |
Coaches' Award |
| Under 18 Girls | Ella McDonell | Ella Britten |
| Under 18 Boys | Gabriel Haddad | Michael Gordeyev |
| Under 17 Girls | Stella Spink | Lucy Heard |
| Under 17 Boys | Ashton Ollington-Scammell | Jack Beddoe |
| Under 16 Girls | Gemma Yong | Anja Marjanovic |
| Under 16 Boys | Sebastian Gelt | Ryan White |
| Under 15 Girls | Katie Tran | Nanami Hutton |
| Under 15 Boys | Eric Oo | Dustin Van Cuylenburg |
| Under 14 Girls | Charli Nguyen | Sara Dragic |
| Under 14 Boys | James Tanurahardja | Bawiliansang Tuallawt |
Indoor Youth – White Teams |
||
White Team |
MVP |
Coaches' Award |
| Under 18 Boys | Griffin Booth | Josh Alfaro |
| Under 17 Girls | Jessica Wu | Lola Cherubin |
| Under 17 Boys | Nathan Clough | Austin To |
| Under 16 Girls | Lucy Van Vugt | Grace Li |
| Under 16 Boys | Jayden Lee | Lucas Wijaya |
| Under 15 Girls | Ella Kentera | Eliana Zulliger |
| Under 15 Boys | Mayson Plant | Joshua Floyd |
| Under 14 Girls | Nini Huang | Chloe Zheng |
| Under 14 Boys | Kobe Agustin | Jae Chung |
Beach Youth |
||
Team |
MVP |
Coaches' Award |
| Under 18 Girls | Ella McDonell | Madeleine Goldsworthy |
| Under 18 Boys | Arley Hinchley | Jack Hutchings |
| Under 17 Girls | Mayra Pacioni | Summer Newton |
| Under 17 Boys | Nathan Clough | Austin To |
| Under 16 Girls | Ellie Mellings | Caitlin Uffindel |
| Under 16 Boys | Ethan Hosking-Mani | Zol Zamani |
| Under 15 Girls | Letitia Caspersz | Eliana Zulliger |
| Under 15 Boys | Oscar Cracknell | Dustin Van Cuylenburg |
| Under 14 Girls | Maika Hutton | Emilie Cheung |
| Under 14 Boys | James Tanurahardja | Adam Heritage |
Program Awards |
||
Program |
Award |
Winner |
|
Indoor Youth |
Blue & White Jacket, Bill Glasson Medal | Ruby Longmuir |
| Blue & White Jacket | Gabriel Haddad | |
| Coach of the Year – Female | Steph Baker | |
| Coach of the Year – Male | Stefano Botti | |
|
Beach Youth |
Blue & White Jacket | Ella McDonell |
| Blue & White Jacket | Arley Hinchley | |
| Coach of the Year – Female | Kayla Hor | |
| Coach of the Year – Male | Ben Carroll | |
Above: Ella McDonell and Arley Hinchley, 2026 Beach State Team Blue and White Jacket Award Winners
Above: Ruby Longmuir and Gabriel Haddad, 2026 Indoor State Team Blue and White Jacket Award Winners
Above: Ben Carroll and Kayla Hor, 2026 Beach State Team Coaches of the Year
Above: Steph Baker, 2026 Indoor Beach State Team Female Coach of the Year. Male winner Stefano Botti was absent.
