Scottish volleyball’s most northerly outpost is thriving again. The game in Orkney has had to regenerate itself after many of its most prominent players left the island but the signs are that it is regaining strength.

Stromness Academy and Kirkwall Grammar, the two main secondary schools on the island, both have extra-curricular volleyball classes in addition to offering Standard grade and Higher PE classes in the game.

The sport was first introduced to Orkney almost 12 years ago when Belinda Warnock, who played in the Scottish National League with Falkirk and was a former basketball player, took up a post teaching physical education at Stromness Academy. She discovered there was no volleyball on the island and set up a night class for children and adults. Within a few years a league set-up was established.

“We first started out with six or seven of us at a night class back in 1991 playing with a badminton net and maybe four against four but we grew quickly. The Scottish Volleyball Association has been very supportive with funding for equipment and sending coaches.”

After the haemorrhaging of players in recent years, the signs are that the game is returning to its previous strength.

“I think it’s the nature of life on an island,” Mrs Warnock says. “Players leave the island to study or take up jobs and although many return to start families in their thirties, there are not many players in their twenties here.

“We are now building again and I think it’s just something we’ll need to do every five years or so when players leave.

Mrs Warnock reckons volleyball is now the fourth most popular sport on the island, behind football, hockey and netball, but many of the footballers and hockey players retreat indoors in the winter to play volleyball.

“The game has always been popular in the schools. When I had the first after-school club of the new session, we had 40 pupils attending, which is not bad when there are only 400 in the school.

“The first and second years all play as part of the curriculum. In the third and fourth years it is optional and there is a block of volleyball in fifth and sixth years.”

The school players have reached a good standard and teams from Orkney regularly attend the national schools volleyball festivals on the mainland and have more than held their own.

“It does take us a whole weekend to get to national festivals but I think it’s important for us to get to as many as we can,” Mrs Warnock says. “However, sometimes the festivals are in February and March, when the weather can be a bit difficult.”

Getting to Inverness takes a two-hour boat journey plus two-and-a-half hours by car. To attend events in Glasgow takes another two-and-a-half hours.

The Pickaquoy Sports Centre, which was opened three years ago, gives island volleyball players state-of-the-art facilities and when coaches come to hold clinics they are well received.

“The coaches are always welcomed and I think they are pleasantly surprised by the schoolchildren they find here,” Mrs Warnock says. “The children are all willing to learn and there is no discipline problem.

“But we are still relying on volunteers to keep the game going. There is no sports development officer and that is something we need. Everybody is working very hard but it all falls on a few.

“Phil McKay, the head of PE at Stromness Academy, and Gill Manson, a PE teacher at the school, kept it going for me when I was off on maternity leave recently. There is also a lot of good work going on at Kirkwall Grammar through teachers Linda Ross and Alma Balfour.

“There is a bit of rivalry between the two schools - it’s a bit like Edinburgh and Glasgow - but it’s good for the game.”

Rona Brodie, the Scottish Volleyball Association’s national youth development officer, has visited Orkney twice and is impressed with what she has seen.

“It is amazing what they have achieved for such a small island. The set-up is superb and they have a strong group who keep it going,” she says.

“They regularly support our national festivals, in spite of all the travelling involved, and they also have a high spec facility to play in and that has helped them take the game a stage further.”

However, the day when a volleyball team from Orkney joins the Scottish National League is still some way off - the travel difficulties are a big hurdle - but that does not stop players striving to improve. As some return to the island after spells with national league clubs, they can pass on their knowledge.

“The children are fine at learning new things,” Mrs Warnock says, “but the adults can be more difficult. Mostly, they do not want to be taught at their age and just want to turn up and play a recreational game, but that is fine.”