ABOUT THE PROGRAM
The Senior National Men’s Volleyball Team consists of the best volleyball players Australia has to offer. The team has a strong history with success at numerous events and championships. The AIS Men’s Volleyball program is an integral core of all national indoor team programs (senior, youth and junior), preparing and developing athletes for international competition. With a focus on the Senior Men’s Team, the AIS has supported some of our top elite players, including the current Australian captain Igor Yudin, Andrew Grant and Nathan Roberts for almost ten years.
The AIS Volleyball program was established in 1990 when a men's program commenced in Sydney. Both the men's and women's programs were relocated to the main campus of the AIS in Canberra in 1997 and the men’s AIS program is still vital to the National team program providing financial and human resources as well as the sport science and sports medicine expertise required to compete at the international level.
Through using the world-class training centre and resources at the AIS, the ranking of the Volleyball Team Australia Men’s (VTAM) has improved significantly since their initial involvement in the early 90’s. After the teams' success in late 2007, winning the Asian Senior Men's Volleyball Championships and coming 8th at the 2007 FIVB World Cup, the team climbed as high as 11th in the world. The team is currently ranked 22nd in the world and expected to improve following their involvement in the 2012 Olympic Games.
Volleyball Team Australia Men qualified and competed in their fourth consecutive World Championships in 2010 (’98, ’02, ’06, ‘10) held in Italy and will be looking to make it to the next edition in 2014.
Currently all of the senior members of the AIS/Volleyball Team Australia Men program have professional contracts in overseas Volleyball leagues and return to Australia for the international competition season from approximately May through to September each year. The remaining athletes within the Volleyball Team Australia Men program, the development athletes are on fulltime residential AIS scholarships.
As far as Olympic representation goes, the AIS/Volleyball Team Australia Men’s team played in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. The team is currently competing in the 2012 London Olympics – where Australia qualified in their own right for the second time, following strong performances against their Asian rivals in June 2012.
