Over the last few years, George has well & truly fallen in love with beach & indoor volleyball (...and who can blame him?!). In 2021, he unfortunately didn't quite make it into the England U17 Cadet Squad, but this didn't stop him! George went away, and after lots of dedication, determination & hard work, he came back to secure in the Junior Men's U19 Squad the following year!

After being successful in his first year, he has now made his way into the final junior year, reaching for international beach & indoor competitions, which are taking him across the globe.

We (Volleyball England Foundation) are supporting George, by allowing him to fundraise through our own JustGiving page, where his current fundraising total is sitting at a fantastic £1789. These funds are supporting upcoming training, tournaments and competitions for George.

We reached out George, to find out how the funds have helped him so far, and his response was as follows...

"I flew to Alicante with the advanced junior development group on Wednesday 29th March for 4 days. During this time we did physical testing, sessions on sports psychology and nutrition alongside training drills, KOTC and mini tournaments. Following this i stayed on in Alicante as an assistant coach, training a women's group and in my breaks joining training sessions delivered by Javi Bosma. Some of the money raised paid for my training, accomodation, food, and court hire.

On Thursday 13th and Friday 14th April I attended the very first event at the new Fireball Loxford venue. Some money raised helped to pay for the Advanced Mens Fireball training delivered across the two days.

On Monday May 1st i will be trialling for the Youth Commonwealth Games.

Training preparation this year is all leading to my hope of qualifying for the YCWG, CEV and NEVZA beach competitions".

As you can see, the JustGiving page is helping George to achieve his volleyball dreams, so if you can help by donating any amount, please head to https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/george-ruddick