history

The first National Volleyball Junior aged tournament was held in Canberra in 1969, for the Under 18 age group. Seven years later in 1976, the Australian Youth Championships was established for the U20 age group, with the tournament hosted by the South Australian Volleyball Association (SAVBA) in Adelaide. To accommodate this new tournament age bracket, the already established Junior tournament age limit was lowered to U17’s.

1978 saw the introduction of yet another age group, with the U15 Nationals being established, the first of which was held in Canberra. All three junior volleyball tournaments were held annually in separate locations, and only requiring a two court venue, they were taken to many different locations including towns outside of the major capital cities, such as Moe, Port Augusta, Dubbo, Geelong, Burnie, Warrnambool, Devonport, Geelong, Bundaberg and Nowra.

It wasn’t until 10 years later in 1988 that the three age groupings of U21, U19 and U17 was created, and then not until two years after that the three divisions were held together in the one place, with the Queensland Volleyball Association (QVA) hosting the first Australian Junior Volleyball Championships (AJVC) at the Sleeman Sports Complex, Chandler in Brisbane in 1990.