The announcement on Monday explaining the road map out of lockdown has been warmly welcomed across the Volleyball and sporting communities. Volleyball England are working on updating the guidance and will release information early next week.

But for clubs there is a great deal to think about before players can once again take to the court.

For many players the first chance to play is going to be outside, either in a park or on the beach, as many of the facility you usually use may well be hosting other activities at the moment, perhaps its a mass vaccine centre or that the school hall you use isn’t being offered for use at the moment.

Perhaps Park Volley is the solution, there are guidance and information available form the FIVB website but what if you don’t have the equipment to get active outdoors?

Sport England have a funding pot for you- The Return to Play fund will make awards, using National Lottery and government funding, of between £300 and £10,000 from a total pot of £15 million, to help sport and activity groups, clubs and organisations respond to the immediate challenges of returning to play in a coronavirus-safe way. This funding pot is open until the end of June.

• Awards are to help with essential changes to services or facilities

• Applications should be focused on returning people to previously run activity, or enabling previous projects to adapt to resume delivery, when that's possible. At this time we're not looking to support new projects or start-ups.

Some clubs have already taken advantage of this funding stream and have managed to secure equipment to support their return.

Other funders include the Active Partnership (what were previously known as the County Sport Partnerships) If you don’t know where your partnership is based have a look on the national Active Partnership website.

Another partner that might have accessible funding is the County Community Foundations, these are another national network that have been providing funds to grassroot activities that have been negatively impacted by COVID. They will have specific funding pots that you might be able to access.

Finally don’t forget the funding pots that are available through the funding section of this website.