Volleyball
5 March, 2025
Volleyball Horsham celebrate womens contribution
It’s been a big week for women’s sport, unfortunately for all the wrong reasons, and no matter what you think of the rant of the now sacked radio person, in 2025 we all must respect the contribution women make to our sporting landscape.
On Friday is International Women’s Day where we celebrate the social, economic and cultural achievements of women across the world, and Volleyball Horsham will highlight the achievement of our women with a retro round on Wednesday night.
At the end of 2024, women and girls made up 57.5% of our membership with over 170 participating in our association.
This has been achieved by a consistent level of success and in the post-Covid period the establishment of a standalone women’s competition.
Member for nearly 20 years and current women’s captain Kara Johnson said her participation for such a sustained period has been the result of a welcoming and inclusive environment that the association has created.
“Ever since I started, I have been able to play with my friends initially and then progress through the grades, to now where I am playing A grade in my role as a setter and looked upon as another one of the association’s key players and treated as an equal.”
“This has enabled me to remain competitive and participate in a higher level of play which has been great for my game.”
“The association has been good at giving the leading females the opportunity to play in A grade over the years and it is no coincidence that we have been able to build a strong and successful women’s representative team in that time.”
Volleyball Horsham places equal emphasis on both men and women representing the association at tournaments, championships and events. They are given the opportunity to showcase their skills at a level commensurate with their ability initially, which then gives them a taste and then helps them to progress their game and take on the best teams from across the state.
Leading female player Laelah Robertson believes the most important aspect of this representation is the uniform.
“Both the Volleyball Horsham men’s and women’s teams wear the same uniform. There is no differentiation between the sexes, which I believe is a positive.”
“An organization’s uniform is its greatest selling point and is instantly recognizable. To having both our men and women wearing the same uniform makes me feel like an equal and that is all we are asking for.”
“We are looking forward to our International Women’s Day retro round this year as it takes on more meaning following last week's news. All the girls are keen to showcase our sport on Wednesday night and highlight what we can do to everyone.”
The games start at 6 pm with women’s A matches between Johnson’s Phantoms taking on Ilze Van Zyl’s WLC Thorns on court one and Amelia Van Buuren’s Heidelberg doing battle with Paige Hemley’s Nuggets on court two.
At 7 pm on court one, Kayla Kelm’s Lakers will square off against Robertson’s new look Tsunami team, which welcomes back former top junior Ellonia Barnett.
On court two from 7 pm, the women’s B competition kicks off with the two youngest teams Power Divas and Bombers going head to head, followed at 8 pm by Stars and Magnificent Medicos and at 9 pm the Von Steiger Derby between the Sisters and the Shadows, which will showcase beautifully the multi-cultural nature of our great sport.
Volleyball Horsham encourages everyone to come down and support our women’s teams as they showcase their skills and the fun they have each week in a welcoming and inclusive environment.